Former caretaker government mandarins Fakhruddin Ahmed and General Moeen U Ahmed spent Eid-ul-Fitr with other Bangladeshi expatriates in the United States on Thursday.
They attended the Eid congregation in two different states. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy attended the congregation in Virginia.
Fakhruddin, also the former Bangladesh Bank Governor, was the chief advisor to the military-backed caretaker government was in power for two years following a state of emergency imposed in 2007.
He now lives in Washington DC, where he joined the Eid prayers along with other Bangladeshis at the Hilton Hotel.
General Moeen was then the chief of Bangladesh Army when the caretaker government was believed to have acted as the front office of the powerful military. He attended the Eid congregation at North Lake Eidgah ground at West Palm Beach in Florida.
Moeen lives in New York, but he went to Florida to spend the Eid with his only son Nihad Ahmed.
Fakhruddin and is still being criticised by the top leaders of the two major political parties of Bangladesh for their roles during the two-year rule of the interim administration that was constitutionally mandated to remain in charge for three months..
They were summoned by a parliamentary sub-committee several times to explain their actions in violence on university students and teachers in 2007. They, however, did not turn up but e-mailed written statements denying their involvement in the atrocities.
Meanwhile, Virginia resident Joy came to Bangladesh recently and attended several political programmes, and some of his comments kicked up controversy. Joy had said he was rooting for the Awami League to assist the party to come to power for a second straight term.
The incumbent Awami League-led government’s tenure has at best five months left.
Muslims in the US and Arab states observed Eid-ul-Fitr on Thursday. But those in Bangladesh will celebrate Eid on Friday.
Hundreds of Muslims attended the Eid congregation in New York’s Jackson Heights earlier in the morning local time.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg exchanged greetings with the Muslims at Jamaica Muslim Centre at the Queens borough.
President Barack Obama has also greeted Muslims around the world on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
Eid congregations were held at at least 175 mosques and 36 Eidgah grounds in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Washington DC, Georgia, California, Texas, Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Minnesota.
Bangladeshi children and youths wearing new dresses celebrated in a festive mppd in Bangladeshi-dominated areas like Brooklyn, Queens and Bronx in New York.
Source: bdnews24
