Bangladesh has reaffirmed in the United Nations (UN) that every Bangladeshi, regardless of religious identity, has the right to practice respective religion or express views freely.
“Ensuring safety and security of every citizen, including from the minority community, remains the cornerstone of the interim Government of Bangladesh,” said Ambassador Tareq Md Ariful Islam, Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN and other International Organisations in Geneva.
Bangladesh envoy was delivering the statement at the 17th Session of UN Forum on Minority on Thursday in Geneva, according to message received in Dhaka on Friday night.
He said the right of religions has been repeatedly reassured to minority religious leaders by the top leadership and proved time and again in the first 100 days of the Bangladesh interim government.
“With utter dismay, we note that the arrest of Mr. Chinmoy Das has been misconstrued by some speakers, he was actually arrested on specific charges,” Islam said.
He added, “The matter is being dealt with by the court of law.”
Despite the recent brutal killing of a Muslim lawyer, the envoy said, the Bangladesh government’s immediate intervention and support from leaders of all faiths helped maintain calm and avert untoward incident.
“Our government remains vigilant and will continue to act promptly to maintain religious harmony at any cost and thwart any attempt to undermine rights of minorities,” he added.
The envoy said the post 5th August violence in Bangladesh was rooted in political and personal factors, not sectarian while two advisers have been appointed from the minority communities.
“The violence affected people mostly with partisan political affiliations, almost all of them being Muslims and only a few from other religious minority groups,” he said adding that there was no systematic attack on minorities.
Rather, Islam said, following the mass uprise in July, the world has witnessed how the entire society of Bangladesh came forward to protect its minorities following the long tradition of Bangladesh’s communal harmony.
He said the Bangladesh interim government led by Prof Dr Muhamamd Yunus has been enjoying overwhelming and unprecedented mandate from the country’s people across all faiths.
“Unfortunately, when the people of Bangladesh were setting glorious examples of religious harmony, we observe a flurry of exaggerated, unfounded and fake reports and deliberate spread of misinformation and disinformation by vested quarters regarding minority persecution. Sadly, we saw it at this forum too.”
Bangladesh Permanent Representative said that many such propaganda have been debunked by global media while the interim government remains open to welcome foreign journalists to visit Bangladesh to see the ground situations.