Feature

A Journey to Discover…

Moot Court in Kathmundu

Umme Wara Mishu

Mooting was always a very scary thing to me before this. I was very tense and forgot to enjoy anything during this Nepal trip, even the fact that this was my first plane journey! I had heard from someone (a cloud specialist!) that the most interesting part of an air journey is seeing the clouds, specially the cirrus, which takes the viewer to a world of romance! I saw it and it was the only thing that made me feel relaxed for a while. By the way, the moot competition I am talking about was a part of a Regional Symposium on Developing Right-Based Approach to Anti- Trafficking Actions in South Asia, which was held from 19-21 March 2007 in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Around 50 participants came from Bangladesh, India and Nepal to participate in this symposium. From Bangladesh, ten law students from different public universities were selected and two groups were formed for the moot court competition. From India there were several universities, but for the moot there were students from Delhi University and IP University. From Nepal there was the Kathmandu School of Law (KSL), which was the organizer of the symposium. The hospitality and generosity of faculties like Professor Yubaraj Sangroula, Ms. Geeta Pathak, Kapil, Sadhna and Supriety was great. I want to mention all the volunteers of KSL, such as Pushpa, Sushila, Anjana, Antara, Kanchan and Abhishek for all their support throughout the program. They also entertained us with a superb cultural program, in addition to running around all day to make the program a success.

Now coming to the hectic schedule of the symposium. We learnt a lot about trafficking and migration in the program and got to meet people who are experts on this field. Some exclusive presentations and discussions by resource persons of all the countries helped us in understanding the problem of trafficking and migration, especially in our region. We also had questions and clarifications sessions for better understanding of any particular issue.

As the moot competition was scheduled on the last day, I personally couldn't enjoy anything properly, except for shopping with Tithy at the nearest shopping place, Thamil. We stayed in a hotel named Paradise Plaza situated in Kantipath. After coming back to a hotel we used to go for a walk and I had to spend a large amount of money for making calls home everyday as my father had specifically instructed.

At last the last day came, though I didn't want it to come! What was pathetic for me was that Yubaraj Sir took all of us to KSL in the morning to visit the school. For the whole way there and back, and the period of staying there, I was busy memorizing my script. Even then I must say that KSL is a fantastic school, well organized and well decorated. There I discovered a wonderful relationship among all the students, which inspired me to dream of a same kind of atmosphere in Bangladesh too.

After coming back from KSL we had lunch. It was terrific for all the mooters to have lunch just half an hour before the moot. In the moot competition there were two teams from each country, a total of six teams. Tithy, and me, performed unexpectedly bad in the first round. After first round we again went to Thamil to buy something to cheer ourselves up! After shopping we returned to the conference and prepared ourselves to clap for the finalists. We were stunned when Yubaraj Sir announced our name as one of the finalists. We got higher points than Delhi University, other Bangladeshi teams and the two Nepali teams in the first round. IP University was the other finalist. As we were applicants in the previous round, in the final round we were instructed to moot as respondents. I discovered that after becoming finalists, I felt like we had nothing to lose! I had the opportunity to present my submission before Justice Naimuddin Ahmed along with two other Judges from India and Nepal. Tithy and I did so well in our submission and clarification that everybody expected us to win. But I knew that, two amateurs like us could not defeat a team that had two researchers and one coach along with two counsels. We could not be the champions but being Runners- up I felt proud of myself and Tithy as it was our first International Moot Competition!

Our achievement is more than we had expected. Everybody over there appreciated our performance and we were invited by Yubaraj Sir to attend the next winter school, which is going to be held in September this year. I should mention that an interview was taken by Nepal TV 2 regarding our symposium and Tithy was the only interviewee from Bangladesh. The bond we made there with the other participants and the experience that we gathered during the whole program would help me for the rest of my life. The most important thing is that this was a journey for me to discover a new person in me, to discover the strength in me. Now I don't feel scared to moot and am looking forward to participating in the next Henry Donunt Moot Court Competition to aim for making my department and my country proud of us once again.

LL. B. ,Department of Law
University of Dhaka