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Feature

My country wins!

Sharin Shajahan Naomi

If you refresh your memory, you may recollect that just a few weeks ago I had written in the Star Campus how my University (Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka) won in National Henry Dunant Memorial Moot Court Competition defeating the other Law Faculties of Rajshahi, Chittagong and Kushtia University. In moot court competition, each team has to prosecute and defend the other teams as lawyers on the basis of a hypothetical case before the eminent Judges. After that victory at the national level competition, the Dhaka University team (consisting of Taslima Yasmin, Christabel Randolph, and Azharul Islam Habib guided by Coach, Asst. Prof Nazmuzzaman Bhuiyan) went to Delhi for Regional Henry Dunant Memorial Moot Court Competition (Jointly organized by International Committee of Red Cross and Indian Society of International Law) to face the winning teams from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Iran. On 29th September, I got the news that they have qualified for the final after beating Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Iran and were going to moot against India the team of Jodhpur National Law University of India which was the winner at the national level in India beating more than 60 National Law Schools and Universities

On 30th September, when the streets of Dhaka were burning, the fighting of our political parties was mocking at our democracy and throwing shame on our reputation which just emerged through the Nobel Peace Prize of Dr. Mohammad Yunus, I was sleeping and going through peculiar nightmares like - Judges in Delhi were insulting our team, Indian team was smashing our team with devastating pleading, even I saw Christabel and Taslima Apu cursing me, calling me names…I would have gone through more if my cell phone would not have woke me up. I received a call from Gaulbert uncle (Christabel's father) - “Naomi, Christabel has called from Delhi, she was shouting saying we won, we won'. I could only say amidst sleep ' yeah, ok, thanks' and again went to sleep. After 5 minutes, I again woke up, this time with full consciousness and asked myself -' what I heard, was it true?

No no, it must be a dream'. I again called uncle - 'Uncle did you call me saying…, are you sure?…is it true? have you heard the news yourself? Oh! My God' ( Scream!!!)

For several months I have been emotionally involved with this team (Firstly for my passion towards moot court and laws of war which is the subject matter of this competition and secondly for my intimacy with the team members) and, when I heard the news, I just shouted continuously for one hour (only God knows how I did with my fragile voice), I felt I had won it and then my Dean Dr. Borhan Uddin Sir 's words came to my memory that the moment Dhaka University had won in national competition, they were no more in the status of only ' Dhaka University', they became the representatives of Bangladesh. Yes, he is absolutely right, Bangladesh has won defeating India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan! My Country has won!

The hard work and determination of Bangladesh team is really praiseworthy, I myself have been the witness of this tough time for more than two months. Christabel, Taslima apu hardly slept for 3/4 hours in a day before this competition. Even just before the day of Eid (what we call Chand Rat) where everyone was getting ready for Eid, Taslima apu and Christabel apu were practicing their speech before Borhan Sir, Asif Nazrul Sir and Nasrullah Sir while their Coach Nazmuzzaman Sir was scrutinizing their written submission and not only that, before that day, for at least three nights, the Coach along with the team remained awake whole night to make the written submission the best one.

And you people just cannot believe that how far these dedicated people could go for this competition- they did not consider the ' Eid Day !!!”- on Eid day, the team with their Coach returned at 10 pm from our Department! And during that time, they included another one spoil Eid of Raji Bhaiya, the former participant of this competition. Even after arriving at Delhi, or reaching the Final round, they successfully held on to that habit of not sleeping what they collectively practiced for two months. Before the final day of moot, whole night long their coach was giving them guidelines and Borhan sir was doing that from Bangladesh over the phone.

At first Taslima apu and Christabel apu were very complacent after reaching the final round and to be in just 2nd position, they were about to have a long sleep with relieved mind on soft beds of their luxurious hotel (even I was complacent too in Bangladesh), but fortunately (fortunately for Bangladesh) or unfortunately (for poor Taslima and Christabel) their coach gave a piece of his mind, in Bengali it is called Jhari. And after that their patriotism sparked in full volume (come on, we can defeat India and take the trophy to Bangladesh) and jumped back to action, that is practice…practice….practice….forgetting their sleep.

However, at the end, they got the fruits of all these efforts…they won. All the judges of India praised them. Bangladesh team, besides the champion trophy and 3000 rupees for each mooter, returned from Delhi with another unique experience. One of the judges of Delhi High Court, who was the judge in the final round, invited them to have breakfast and after that he offered them to watch the hearing of a very famous case (on the Fundamental right of Indian Constitution) in the Supreme Court of India. It is a lifetime experience for any law student of Bangladesh and this time Bangladeshi team enjoyed that opportunity. Another thing- they also went to watch the night show of the Hindi Movie 'Don' and I must say on that day I didn't sleep in Bangladesh being jealous to them (Poor Naomi).

When they used to practice in Bangladesh, Borhan Sir was very confident that they would win but we were not so sure. Dr.Yunus got the Nobel Peace Prize and introduced very famous dictum 'we also can', 'we also possess capacity to win', and 'Our country is a land of huge possibility'. What mess our politics did in last few days; such dictum was about to be put in serious question. But at this moment, Law Faculty of Dhaka University made Bangladesh stand proudly before other South Asian countries. Now their responsibility has doubled, because as the champion team, they are now going to Hong Kong next year to represent the whole South Asia. Their victory is not only for Law students, but it is something, which the whole nation can boast of.