Buddhist leaders scrap flying paper lanterns

Staff Correspondent: Leaders of Bangladesh’s Buddhist community have decided to go to Myanmar to protest the ongoing atrocities against Rohingya refugees who are suffering in dire condition.

The Buddhist leaders have also taken a decision to refrain from flying paper lanterns in Prabarana Purnima this year and expressed their desire to donate the money saved from modest celebration of the Prabarana Purnima to the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar.

Bangladesh Sammilito Bouddha Samaj told a press briefing at the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) in the capital on Monday.

“We will not float paper lanterns in the sky this year,” said Ashok Barua, coordinator of Bangladesh Sammilito Bouddha Samaj.

The decision has been made to express solidarity with over 400,000 Rohingyas fleeing into Bangladesh to escape persecution by Myanmar military and its Buddhist supporters and to protest the ongoing atrocities against them, Barua said.

Floating paper lanterns in the air is a tradition in the observation of Prabarana Purnima, the second largest religious festival of the Buddhists. This year's Prabarana Purnima is supposed to be celebrated among Buddhist community in October 5.

risingbd/Dhaka/Sept 18, 2017/Yeamin/Amirul