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DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — After a two-year break, 1000’s of individuals in Bangladesh and Nepal on Thursday celebrated their respective new years with colourful processions and musical soirees because the coronavirus pandemic eased and life swung again to regular.
In Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, individuals clad within the conventional purple apparel ushered within the Bengali 12 months 1429. They marched, sang and danced at a distinguished arts faculty on the Dhaka College campus and in historic Ramna Park.
Related processions had been organized in different elements of Dhaka and elsewhere within the nation, however the celebration was subdued because the Muslim-majority Bangladesh was additionally observing the fasting month of Ramadan amid scorching warmth.
Thursday was a nationwide vacation in Bangladesh, a nation of 160 million individuals.
The Bengali calendar emerged underneath the Sixteenth-century Mughal emperor Akbar by combining Islamic and photo voltaic Hindu calendars to facilitate land tax assortment.
The festivities had been suspended for the final two years due to the pandemic.
“I’m very completely happy to affix right this moment. Within the final two years we couldn’t have fun,” mentioned businessman Tapan Chowdhury, who joined the procession along with his household. “It’s a nice day to have fun irrespective of spiritual beliefs.”
The Bengali new 12 months feast was not at all times clean as hard-line Muslim teams opposed the celebrations, calling them un-Islamic. Thursday’s peaceable processions had been closely guarded by safety officers although they mentioned they monitored no particular threats.
Militants belonging to the outlawed Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami group bombed a musical occasion in 2001, leaving 10 individuals lifeless.
A court docket in Dhaka sentenced eight militants to dying and 6 others to life in jail in 2014 for his or her involvement within the assault. The defendants have appealed and the ultimate verdict is pending on the Supreme Court docket.
Folks in Nepal, in the meantime, welcomed the 12 months 2079 with visits to Hindu temples and Buddhist shrines, the place households prayed for prosperity and good luck.
Final 12 months’s celebrations had been banned because of rising coronavirus circumstances, and the 12 months earlier than a lockdown saved individuals at dwelling.
Nepal’s Well being Ministry reported solely 19 new circumstances and no deaths on Wednesday.
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Related Press author Binaj Gurubacharya in Kathmandu, Nepal, contributed to this report.
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