New York based Probini Foundation presented Bangladeshi human rights activist Shahriar Kabir with the Anath Bandhu (Friend of the Orphan) award during the recent North American Bengali Convention (NABC) on July 2nd 2005. The award was presented by Dr Ushashi Chattopadhyay. The Probini Foundation hosted a reunion and seminar at the Hotel Manhattan as part of the 25th NABC celebration, which saw an estimated 15,000 delegates visiting from India, Bangladesh, Canada, and all over the US and Europe.

Shahriar Kabir is an internationally respected human rights activist from Bangladesh. He has fought against all forms of religious and political extremism, and for the rights of religious and ethnic minorities in Bangladesh. He is also extremely vocal in seeking punishment for war criminals and collaborators of genocide of the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, many of whom are members of the present Bangladeshi government and alleged to have links with global Islamist terror groups. Kabir was recently involved in a serious car accident where one passenger was killed and which many observers suspect was an attempt by the establishment to assassinate him. He was recently invited by the European Parliament and by many parliamentarians of Europe, including U.K.

Kabir spoke to the audience about his experiences in jail, having been arrested for treason in 2001 on return from India where he had been filming interviews with Hindu refugees escaping attacks by the newly elected Islamist-coalition government. He then engaged in an open discussion with members of the audience, reminding them of the need for America to watch events in Bangladesh closely given the links between global terror groups.