Too many talkers as two-hour roundtable fails to finish in four hours

A bizarre roundtable ended without having any discussion as participants wrestled for the floor, dragging the two-hour event to more than four hours.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 21 May 2015, 05:43 PM
Updated : 22 May 2015, 09:10 AM

Thursday’s event, organised by Dhaka University’s Department of Criminology, was titled ‘Understanding the Changing Patterns of Crime and Violence: The Role of Criminology in Bangladesh’.

Thirty-eight of 40 participants addressed the two-hour roundtable that ran two hours beyond schedule.

The programme’s designated time ended when only half of them were done with their speech.

Participants included Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Syed Iftekhar Uddin, former police IGP Nurul Huda, BGB representative Col Touhid, former information commissioner and DU teacher Prof Sadeka Halim.

DU teacher Anurug Chakma, security analyst Maj Gen (retd) Mohammad Ali Shikder, BNP chief’s adviser Enam Ahmed Chowdhury, assistant secretary of Awami League's sub committee Rashek Rahman, NSI Director Brig Gen Saiful Alam, ICT prosecutor Tureen Afroz were also there.

Apart from them, Bangladesh Coast Guard’s Additional Director General Commodore Yahya Saif, DU teachers Prof Hafizur Rahman, Associate Prof Shantanu Majumder, Barrister Tania Amir, several journalists and rights activists took part.

Also in attendance were RAB’s Additional Director General Col Ziaul Ahsan, DB’s Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam, CID’s Special Superintendent of Police Sheikh Mohammad Rejaul Haider and DGFI’s Counter Intelligence Division Director Brig Gen Md Touhidul Islam.

Criminology department’s Chairman Prof Md Ziaur Rahman moderated the programme where no questions from the participants could be discussed because of too little time.

The department’s teacher Syed Mahfujul Haque Marjan, who organised the programme, admitted that there was “some lacking on the focussed discussion”.

But he defended it saying it was “only natural” for a new department.

“It may not seem to be a focussed discussion but I believe we have achieved what we set out to do,” he told bdnews24.com.