Cultural Affairs Adviser Mostofa Sarwar Farooki on Sunday said the cancellation of a theater festival at the Mahila Samity was due to a demand from a "disgruntled segment" of theatre workers.
Following the suspension of Dhaka Mahanagar Natya Utsav, Farooki, also a filmmaker, resorted to Facebook to explain the matter.
In a Facebook post in the morning, Faruk claimed this group had been protesting against the festival for some time and demanding cancellation of the venue’s allocation.
All four Avro Developers to jointly receive Ekushey Padak: Farooki
He also questioned the intention behind labeling the protesting group as a "mob," without revealing their identities.
"We started looking into the matter last evening after hearing about the festival’s cancellation," Farooki wrote in his post.
"The government has been encouraging cultural programmes across the country. Just yesterday, three exhibitions were held at the Shilpakala Academy, and today, Prachyanat has a show there. So, why would the police order the cancellation of the festival?"
The adviser further explained that upon investigation, he found that a section of theatre workers had been pressuring them to cancel the venue allocation for the festival.
“This group claimed that some people who had issued statements provoking killings during the July movement were attempting to gather at the festival under its guise. They demanded that no rehabilitation should take place until those responsible for the July killings faced justice,” he wrote.
"Ultimately, Mahila Samity cancelled the venue allocation yesterday," Farooki said.
There is no question of any censorship in the publication of books: Farooki
He criticised the organisers for not addressing these factors in their statement and accused them of attempting to place the blame on the police.
"Instead of acknowledging the true cause, they tried to shift responsibility onto police, and at the end, blamed the 'mob' for the festival's cancellation," he wrote.
"Don’t they feel the need to apologise once to the nation for their role in the July movement?" he added.