Minority leaders in Bangladesh demand separate ministry and equal rights

Sept. 2, 2012 - PRLog -- Advocate Gobinda Chandra Pramanik, secretary general of Bangladesh National Hindu Grand Alliance and Ripon Roy, president of the youth forum of the same organization in a statement asked the Bangladesh government as well as the members of the National Parliament to bring the bills for establishment of a separate ministry for the religious minorities in the country. They also demanded 25 percent reserve seats for the representatives of the religious minorities in the country as well as immediately recovering illegally grabbed properties of Hindu temples as well as Hindu religious institutions in Bangladesh. They said more than three hundred properties of Hindu temples and Hindu religious institutions are illegally grabbed by influential Muslims with political affiliations with the major political parties in the country.

Expressing dissatisfaction over ignoring the rights of the religious minority groups in the country, Advocate Gobinda Chandra Pramanik said repression on the religious minorities have already reached into an alarming level. Even during the rule of Bangladesh Awami League, which proclaims to be secularist, series of incidents on attack on Hindu temples, demolition of deities, attack on Hindu families as well as other forms of brutalities took place, where in many cases, leaders of the ruling party or their youth and student fronts were directly involved.

He said, the current government should take immediate measures in recovering the properties of Hindu temples and Hindu institutions from the illegal grabbers and extend all possible cooperation in construction of temples and other infrastructures on such lands.

Advocate Pramanik demanded introduction of a bill in the next session of parliament to create a separate ministry for the religious minorities in Bangladesh.