Bangladesh community gathers over Iftar

SPEECH: Ambassador of Bangladesh to Qatar Syed Masud Mahmood Khundoker addressing the gathering.By Umer NangianaContinuing with their years-long tradition of celebrating the festive mood of Ramadan and its jovial Iftar times in togetherness, the Jalalabad Association of Bangladesh once again hosted an Iftar for its members at Grand Qatar Palace Hotel recently.Allowing them the opportunity to take a break from individual daily life chores, the biggest association of Bangladeshi expatriates in Doha gathered people from different walks of life besides its members to enjoy traditional South Asian food and meet friends at the annual Iftar party.Ambassador of Bangladesh to Qatar Syed Masud Mahmood Khundoker was the chief guest. Addressing the gathering, the ambassador said he was happy to see so many community members coming together to socialise over Iftar.He appreciated the work of Jalalabad Association and commended its welfare work for the members of Bangladesh community. The ambassador urged unity among members and advised them to always obey the local laws, rules and regulations.The ambassador and most of the guests and hosts from the association were attired in traditional dresses. “We mostly wear this on occasions like this or whenever there is a religious gathering or Eid. We call it Punjabi kurta and pajama in Bangladesh. And there are different styles and colours with multiple choices for the embroidery designs that you can see on the collar,” SA Khan, the new president of Jalalabad Association told Community.There was no dress code. Most people were expected to wear the traditional colours and attire. “In our tradition, when you invite people for a ‘mehfil’ or a religious gathering, they prefer to wear kurta and pajama to it. You would see most people attired in these dresses at any Bangladeshi national, cultural, religious gathering. It is very convenient and relaxing and it is very easy to pray in it,” said Khan.He said most of their traditional Ramadan recipes are not much different from that of Pakistani traditional food or that of other South Asian countries.“I was a banker here and I had a lot of Pakistani friends and we used to eat together at Iftars, so I know it is almost the same. We too have pakoras, samosas, channa chat, biryani, haleem,” said the association president, as he helped himself to a plate of biryani.“And the tradition of breaking the fast is again the same. We break our fast with starters such as pakoras and other street food and the people disperse for evening prayers before gathering again for the main course,” he added.Khan said they have more than 250,000 Bangladeshi expatriates living here in Qatar and they are employed in different sectors including oil and gas, banking, education, government ministries, skilled and non-skilled labour.“At Jalalabad Association, we take part in welfare activities. This is our second month since the new executive committee has taken charge. We are hoping to sit together after Eid and finalise a few events that we have been planning to hold in the coming days,” he added.These include cleaning programmes, seminars, education activities, general medical campaign besides multiple social activities, said the new president. “The association comes from Jalalabad area in Bangladesh which is in greater Sylhet so we always collect money from here and donate it to people affected by flooding or other natural calamities back in Jalalabad and other areas,” said Khan.Most people working and living here in Bangladesh are from Chittagong and Sylhet areas of the country. More than 85 percent of them come from these areas, according to Khan. Khan said they also provide financial assistance in case of any deaths of Bangladeshi expatriates in Qatar. They make arrangements for sending the body back to Bangladesh. Jalalabad Association, he added, is “basically working for the less-advantaged, low-income people and is always there whenever they need assistance.”