Arundhati Roy's talk at the Chobi Mela 2019 cancelled after Dhaka Police withdraws permission for the event

A much-anticipated talk by the Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy at Chobi Mela [X], the tenth edition of the prestigious Chobi Mela International Festival of Photography, has been called off at the last moment. The organisers of the event took to their official Facebook handle and expressed their apologies for the cancellation of the event. This was Roy’s first-ever visit to Bangladesh and hence a lot of preparations were underway. The Facebook post dated 5 March 2.15 am, states:

[caption id=“attachment_6198051” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] ![Arundhati Roy at Chobi Mela [X]. Facebook/ Chobi Mela International Festival of Photography](https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Arundhati825.jpg) Arundhati Roy at Chobi Mela [X]. Facebook/ Chobi Mela International Festival of Photography[/caption] According to a report New Age, the event was cancelled due to security concerns as Bangladesh Prime Minister’s visit at the same venue is also around the corner. Speaking to the Bangladeshi publication, Mazharul Islam Kajal, officer-in-charge of the Tejgaon Police Station, said, “‘The prime minister will attend a programme at the venue on 8 March. For this reason, we are to hand over the venue to the SSF and Special Branch of Police three days before the programme. That is why we have to hand over the venue on Tuesday. As a result, we were compelled to ask them no to stage the programme on Tuesday.” Roy had already arrived at the festival on 4 March and visited the photography exhibition. Chobi Mela is often touted to be Asia’s largest photography festival. Conceptualised in the year 2000, it is held biennially under the aegis of the Drik Picture Library and Pathshala (The South Asian Institute of Photography).