International Centre for Bengal Studies

Do you know the extent to which one can pardon? Do you know of some acts which can never be pardoned? Quamrul Hassan, magnanimous Quamrul Hassan could never pardon some acts. Hatred and bitterness, curses and satire made his wrist strong, his pen sharp, his brush intense. He did not pardon the Pakistan of 1971, the man-made famine of 1974, his former beloved, the arch shameless dictator. Do you know his eyes stiffened into stone hatred and bitterness? Day and night he heard laughter of tigers and jackals and crocodiles and monkeys and donkeys and snakes.

Bengali Partition of 1905 is a milestone in Bengali History which had enormous impact on subsequent history. But very few books were published on this subject. Particularly no detailed study has been published on East Bengal or present Bangladesh which was the centre of events during this important period of history. Professor Muntassir Mamoon, the pioneer on history of East Bengal came forward to fill in this void. The book is divided into three parts. In the first part the author discuses the background of the Bengal partition.

The greatest genocide of Bangladesh was perpetrated in Chuknagar of Khulna District on 20th May of 1971. Only on that day about 10 thousand people-men, women and children - were killed. Yet the recorded history of liberation war of Bangladesh does not mention this massacre. On completion of the 40th year of the day of Chuknagar Massacre ICBS commemorates the day through the publication of this book. (It was first published in Bangla in 2001). Through this book we avow our ever indebtedness to the martyrs who had laid down their lives to bring the freedom for us.

In The Festivals of Bangladesh Muntassir Mamoon reports from a variety of flash points across Bangladesh. Getting out on to the streets to get beyond the rituals, Mamoon paints a radical portrait of the struggles, hopes and needs of the people. The Other Bangladesh: religious festivals: Eid, Muharram, Janmastami, Durga Puja New year all are powerfully portrayed as the festivals where high versus low culture is intertwined, in which artists and common men, religious devotees and intellectuals, all striving in various ways to embrace the multicultural society we live in.