"People of all faiths together must build this country": MP Johorat Chowdhury visits puja mandaps in Barlekha

Barlekha (Moulvibazar) correspondent: Barrister Johorat Adib Chowdhury MP, chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has said the present government is determined to give every citizen equal dignity regardless of caste and religion. People of all faiths together must build our country.

She said that alongside arranging honorarium allowances for mosque imams and muezzins, the present government has also arranged allowances for temple priests and for fathers who pray in churches. Our Prime Minister's slogan is — religion belongs to each, the state belongs to all. The country must be built with everyone together.

She made the remarks on Tuesday evening while visiting Durga Puja mandaps in Dakshin Shahbazpur, Uttar Shahbazpur and Daserbazar unions and Barlekha municipality, among other areas of Barlekha Upazila in Moulvibazar. During the visits she exchanged Sharodiya Durga Puja greetings with the mandap and puja celebration committees, worshippers and visitors, and inquired about security. She also listened to various problems of the areas and assured that necessary steps would be taken for development.

Present with Barrister Johorat Adib Chowdhury MP during the mandap visits were Upazila BNP president Abdul Hafiz, organising secretary Professor Abdus Sahid Khan, BNP leaders Mujibur Raja Chowdhury, Abdul Moid Chowdhury and Harunur Rashid, Press Club president and former municipal BNP president Anwarul Islam, general secretary Abdur Rab, municipal BNP senior vice-president Abdul Malik, general secretary Abdul Hafiz Lalon, joint general secretary Samsul Hasan, former organising secretary Kamrul Islam, UP member Anis Ahmad, Upazila Krishak Dal president Hazi Abdul Basit Selim, former general secretary Siraj Uddin, Upazila Jubo Dal convener Abdul Kadir Palash and BNP leader Jalal Ahmad Talal, among others.