No entry from 4:00pm

Entry into Ramna Park and Suhrawardy Udyan marking Pahela Baishakh on April 14 will be prohibited from 4:00pm and the premises must be vacated by 5:00pm, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Additional Commissioner Monirul Islam yesterday.

The declaration comes three days after the government, some major changes, banned wearing of masks and blowing of vuvuzelas during Bangla New Year-1423 celebrations.

Meanwhile, Sammilita Sangskritik Jote President Golam Kuddus reiterated the demand for withdrawing the restrictions, except that on vuvuzelas. "If we stop celebrating out of fear of subversive activities, it will be a triumph for the miscreants," he told The Daily Star.

He alleged that the government decisions were not taken "democratically as cultural activists, who are one of the celebration's stakeholders, were not consulted beforehand."

Talking to journalists at the DMP Media Centre, Monirul said there was no security threat on Pahela Baishakh and the measures were taken as a precaution to avoid "any untoward incident".

He also added that none wearing a mask would be allowed to participate in the "Mongol Shobhajatra", a customary procession brought out in the morning by students of Dhaka University's fine arts faculty. The masks, however, can be carried, he said.

"We have talked to the...students. They hold the masks in Mongol Shobhajatra. They do not wear the masks. So the ban is to make sure no outsider wearing a mask can take part in the procession," he said.

Commenting on Monday's killing of a muezzin inside an Old Dhaka mosque, he said the victim, Haji Maulana Belal Hossain, seemed to be a victim of personal enmity.

Ruling out possibilities of militant links, he said the crime's nature and timing do not resemble that committed by militant outfits in the past.