Insecurity mirrors Pak regime days
Bangladesh Hindu-Bouddha-Christian Oikya Parishad yesterday demanded protection of religious minorities against repression and torture.
At a human chain in front of the National Press Club, it also demanded withdrawal of a notice issued to its General Secretary Rana Dasgupta by a committee formed to investigate the alleged land grabbing in Faridpur.
Oikya Parishad leaders think the notice has been issued to harass Dasgupta because he in an interview with Bangla daily Prothom Alo accused LGRD Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain of grabbing lands of Hindus in Faridpur.
Minorities are still passing days with insecurity as they did during the Pakistan regime, said Dasgupta, a prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal, while addressing the crowd.
Vested quarters, including some bureaucrats and people's representatives, are violating the rights of minorities, he added.
"Together we shed blood to liberate the nation in 1971. But it's unfortunate that we haven't yet tasted freedom."
Business institutions and households of the minorities and temples are being burnt down, their lands grabbed and women exploited, Dasgupta said, but when some people protested such injustice and repression, they were harassed, even put in jail.
People of the minority communities are getting frustrated at the situation, he said.
Earlier on August 6 at a press conference in Dhaka, the Oikya Parishad drew public attention to the matter of land grabbing of minorities across the country, including the alleged land grabbing by the minister.
After Dasgupta reiterated the allegation against the minister in the interview published on August 16, the Faridpur district administration formed the probe committee headed by its additional deputy commissioner.
Two days later the probe body issued the notice to Dasgupta, asking him to appear before the ADC's office at 10:00am today to give his statement over the matter.
Oikya Parishad presidium member Subrata Chowdhury yesterday demanded formation of a judicial commission to investigate allegations of grabbing lands of minorities by ruling party men, lawmakers and ministers in different districts, including Thakurgaon, Nilphamari, Pirojpur and Faridpur.
The incumbent government tortured journalist Probir Sikdar to the level that surpassed the repression of minorities by the BNP-Jamaat government, just because he raised his voice against those repressing minorities in Faridpur now, Subrata said.
A senior journalist, Probir is facing legal suit under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act for “tarnishing the image of the LGRD minister”.
Speaking at the demonstration, Probir yesterday alleged that one-man rule had been prevailing in Faridpur and that an influential minister controlled everything there, including the district administration and the police.
Even, ruling Awami League men are harassed for talking against the minister, he said.
Claiming that the district administration and the police do not have power to do anything against the minister's will, Probir demanded removal of the top-level officials of the administration.
The probe body was formed following direction of an influential minister to prove him innocent, he added.
Cultural personality Kamal Lohani, Oikya Parishad presidium member Nim Chandra Bhowmik, academician Durgadas Bhattacharya, indigenous community's leader Sanjeeb Drong, among others, spoke at the programme.
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