DHAKA, Dec 5, 2024 (BSS) – Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed today said that mutual coexistence and communal harmony is one of the main pillars of national progress in Bangladesh.

"Various communal clashes and conflicts in the past century have taught us that communal harmony and coexistence is one of the main pillars of our national progress,” he said.

He was addressing as the chief guest at a discussion meeting organized by the Vijaya Punarmilani and Bani Archana Udjan Parishad of the Bangladesh Supreme Court Bar Association (BSCBA) at its auditorium here this afternoon.

The Chief Justice said, "The history of Bengal is basically the history of harmony and friendship. Since that time, the people of this region have stood by each other in a bond of brotherhood regardless of religion, caste, and creed.”

Currently, due to moral decay, Syed Refaat Ahmed said that injustice, corruption, violence have spread in the society, adding that the mythological story of Goddess Durga is very relevant because it teaches all to fight injustice.

The next generation would eliminate human differences and discrimination and give priority to human values and build a discrimination-free, humane and non-communal harmony Bangladesh by taking lessons from the past, he opined.

The Chief Justice said the main task of the judiciary is to establish justice in the society as an important organ of the country under the constitution.

"It must be remembered that the right to justice is not limited to any particular group or class. So, everyone has to carry out their professional duties accordingly and be responsible for the state,” he said.

The Chief Justice called upon everyone to try their best to resist the entire communal divide from their position, being citizens of the country.
    
Attorney General Md. Asaduzzaman, Supreme Court Bar Association President Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Senior Advocate Nitai Chandra Roy, among others, spoke on the occasion.

At the outset of the program, a minute's silence was observed in memory of all the martyrs of the July-August revolution and the lawyer Saiful Islam Alif who was killed in Chattogram.