Chief of Army Staff General Waqar-uz-Zaman, OSP, SGP, PSC on Friday (November 08, 2024) visited the International Buddhist Vihara located at Merul Badda, Dhaka on the occasion of the auspicious Chibar Donation and National Buddhist Religious Conference-2024 organized by the Bangladesh Buddhist Federation. The army chief congratulated everyone on the occasion of the auspicious occasion of Chibar Donation. He also thanked all those who came from different parts of Bangladesh including hill districts. In the speech of the chief guest, he said that the army is always ready to take all the necessary activities to celebrate the respective festivals of each religion peacefully while maintaining communal harmony. At the same time, he called upon each other to cooperate with each other in a peaceful coexistence through the formation of a country of harmony. He also thanked the distinguished diplomats of foreign missions in Dhaka who came to the event for playing a significant role in the progress of Bangladesh.
The army chief requested the hilly and Bengalis living in the hilly areas to work hard to create a beautiful environment by promoting peace and harmony in the hilly districts. He also highlighted the need to preserve the local language, culture and life diversity along with the development of tourism industry in the mountainous districts with natural beauty. He expressed hope that if more schools, colleges and universities are established in the hill districts, the local students will be able to spread their skills in the country and abroad.
Finally, he expressed his sincere thanks to all the Buddhist Federation for providing security to all law and order forces, including the army, for the peaceful celebration of events organized by Buddhists across the country. It should be noted that the delegation of Bangladesh Buddhist Federation had a courtesy meeting with the army chief at the army headquarters on 10 October 2024. At that time, the army chief promised to provide financial and security support to the three hill districts on the occasion of the auspicious Prabarana Purnima and Tishak Cheebar Dan celebrations. Apart from this, he personally assured to take all the activities to ensure security for celebrating festivals in Chittagong Hill Tracts. Following this, the Chief of General Staff of the Bangladesh Army gave a check donation of one crore taka on behalf of the Bangladesh Army in favor of the Bangladesh Buddhist Federation. It should be noted that this year, the auspicious Chibar Dan has been celebrated with due religious solemnity in 266 Buddhist monasteries across the country including the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Bangladesh Army Chief of General Staff and GOC 9 Infantry Division were present during the visit. In addition, the president of the program Bhadanta Dharmapriya Mahathir, Chief Dharmadesha Bhadanta S Lokjit Mahathir, venerable monks from various Bihars, government and private high-ranking officials, social and organizational personalities, diplomats of foreign missions in Dhaka and all levels of Buddhists and media persons were present.
