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Amid protests by some Islamist groups, the Bangla Academy on Sunday ordered the shutdown of the stalls selling sanitary napkins at the Ekushey book fair. 

Member secretary of the fair organising committee Sarkar Amin said that they ordered the closure as it violated the fair rules.    

‘The sponsor of the fair, Pran-RFL Group primarily offered to display their health protection products of sanitary napkins and diapers at the toilets on the fairground and distribute them among women who need them. But they made two big stalls at the fairground for selling the products, which is clearly a violation of the rules,’ he said. 

A letter from Donkey Dream, the event management firm to which Bangla Academy has commissioned the organising and management of the book fair, surfaced on the social media on Sunday that, citing the Islamist groups’ protests, requested the Pran-Rfl group to remove the sanitary napkins from the stalls.

The letter, signed by director and chief executive officer of Donkey Dream Rakib Hasan, on Friday, said: ‘several Islamist groups labelled sanitary napkins as a private product and demanded that public display or sale of the product must be halted.’

The letter also said that the police, Ansar, and event management volunteers appeased the Islamists on several occasions on several days.

The letter further stated that to prevent any untoward situations the stalls should display alternative products.

Copies of the letter were also sent to other relevant officials, including the director general of the Bangla Academy.

Donkey Dream CEO Rakib Hasan told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· that they worked according to the rules and direction of the academy authorities in this regard. 

Many social media users were seen to express anger, criticising the academy DG and fair committee.

Bangla Academy director general Professor Mohammad Azam told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Sunday night that sanitary napkins would be displayed and distributed free at the toilets at the fairground.