They also claimed that a total of 62 incidents of repression on minorities took place in the month of November.

The activists were speaking at a press conference organised by Human Rights Congress For Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) and Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD) at the National Press Club in the city yesterday.

Leaders of the organisations also urged the government to include human right activists in the election monitoring teams and take effective measures so that minority people can cast their vote in the forthcoming general election freely.

They also demanded measures to form minority human rights commission and issue a circular banning any kind of communal slogans in the election campaign.

"The High Court issued a rule nisi on April 17 to show cause why repression on minorities would not be stopped and why compensation would not be provided for the affected minorities, but no effective measures have been taken in this regard yet," said Advocate Rabindra Ghosh, president of HRCBM.

He urged all political leaders, human rights activists and civil society members to take joint programmes to stop repression on minorities, especially in the next two to three months.

Human right activists Shyamoli Nasreen Chowdhury and Prof Ashoktar Saha were present at the press conference.