Feature

Debate Festival at NUB

Alida Binte Saqi

AN inter-semester Debate Festival was organised by the Debate Club of the Department of Law, Northern University Bangladesh (NUB), from June 6-10. The slogan of the event was “Remove Darkness Through the Light of Debate” (Torker Aloy Dur Kori Andhokar).

The Chief Guest of the opening programme was Prof. M. A. Razzaque, Acting Vice Chancellor, NUB; Special Guest was Lt. Col (Rtd) Aqtedar Ahmed Siddiqui, Register In-Charge, NUB. Prof. A.W.M. Abdul Huq, Dean, Faculty of Law, NUB Chaired the programme.

Ten teams (Pioneer, Verbal Fighters, Gladiator, Shopno Chura, Acme, Rainbow, Bitarka Dhara, White Rose, Diganta, Torko Bagish) participated for and against various topics selected for the debates.

On June 6 eight teams were qualified for the second round. From this round Pioneer, Bitarka Dhara, Gladiator and Shopno Chura were qualified for the semifinal. The topic for the semi final was “Shorkarer berthota noy unnoto bishsher karjokolap-e Bangladeshe morukoroner jonno dayi.” “ Policies of developed countries are responsible for deforestation in Bangladesh, not the government's failure.” There was a heady debate on this subject on June 9. The performance of Shopno Chura was appreciable as they were the junior most team reaching the semi final. Apart from this the defeat of 'Rainbow' in the 2nd round touched the hearts of the students and adjudicators.

The final round was fought between Pioneer of 7th semester and Gladiator of 12th semester while the debate was on “Internet babobahar amader moulik odhikar” “Using internet is our fundamental right.” Well-known debater Abdun Noor Tushar was the moderator of the debate on June 10. Syed Sarfaraj Hamid, Assisstant Professor, Umme Wara Mishu and Khandoker M.S. Kawsar- both Senior Lecturers of Department of Law were the adjudicators of that session. The Gladiator team which had Tushar Mahmud Mamun as the team leader, Md. Ashib Hossain Pathik as the 1st speaker, Md. Kazi Salahuddin Kader (Prince) as the 2nd speaker and Md. Anwar Hossain as the researcher argued against the topic and were defeated by the Pioneer team which included Mohammad Rezaur Rahman Shuvo as the team leader, Sarmin Akter as the 1st speaker, Md. Humayun Hossain Tuhen as the 2nd speaker and Sheikh Ahmad Habib as the researcher.

The Chief Guest of the event was Prof. M. A. Razzaque, Acting Vice Chancellor, NUB and Special Guest was Mr. M. Abu Baker Siddiqui, Treasurer, NUB. Prof. A. W. M. Abdul Huq , Dean, Faculty of Law, Chaired the programme. Abdun Noor Tushar in his speech inspired the students and commented that he was happy to see a lively debate programme. Finally, prizes were handed over by the Chief Guest. Debaters Tushar Mahmud Mamun and Mohammad Rezaur Rahman Shuvo got the best debaters award. Tushar Mahmud Mamun got the best debaters honor throughout all the rounds of the festival. Among others in different rounds Mohammad Abdul Awal (Shopno Chura), A.M. Mehedee Hossain (rainbow), Qaykobad Kawsar (Bitarka Dhara), Kazi Salahuddin Kader (Gladiator), Iva Afroz Nishi (Bitarka Dhara), Abdus Sattar (Diganta) received the best debaters honour. This exciting and educative debating event opened a new avenue for NUB's would-be-lawyers.

(Writer is a student of Law, NUB)