The Buddhist community in Bangladesh will not fly any “Fanus” [a local lantern which floats] during their Probarona festival, the second largest religious festival, to be held on October 5. The fund collected for the lantern festival will be donated for relief for the Rohingya refugees, said Ashok Barua, coordinator of Bangladesh Sammilito Bouddha Samaj, at a press briefing on Monday. The Buddhist community of Bangladesh also condemned the atrocities on the Rohingya in Rakhine in Myanmar and decided to hold a modest celebration of Probarona Purnima to express solidarity with the displaced Rohingya people, reports UNB. Over 410,000 Rohingyas, mostly women, children and old people, fled violence to seek safety in Bangladesh since August 25 when Myanmar security forces launched attacks on the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State.

Source: Dhaka Tribune September 18, 2017 12:30 UTC