Don't want minorities being used in political blame game

Speakers at a roundtable yesterday alleged that both Awami League and BNP had failed to protect the country's minority communities and to punish the perpetrators involved in attacks on them.

They urged the Election Commission (EC) to form police taskforces and mobile courts at different constituencies to ensure security of minorities ahead of the national election on December 30.

The discussion on “Protection of human rights during election” was organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) at its office in the capital's BTMC building.

Speaking at the discussion, Kajal Debnath, presidium member of Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad, alleged that many influential perpetrators from both BNP and AL did not face trial. 

“We don't want minorities being used in political blame game any more; it's the state's responsibility to protect them,” he said.

Rights activist Shyamoli Nasrin Chowdhury said that EC should form mobile courts to ensure immediate punishment so that no one incites attacks on minorities, centring the election.  

Ayesha Khanom, president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, urged the EC to ensure a participatory election where minority communities can cast their votes freely and without fear.

Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, alleged that properties belonging to minority communities are being grabbed due to the state's negligence. 

In his speech, former Justice Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik criticised the EC's role for allowing Jamaat men -- who opposed the country's independence and were involved in anti-minority violence as well as arson attacks and petrol bomb blasts -- to run in the election.

Speaking as the chair, NHRC Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque said they had submitted a letter to the chief election commissioner on November 20, demanding a free and fair election by ensuring voting rights of people, security of minority communities and immediate punishment of the perpetrators.

Among others, economist Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, journalist Shyamal Dutta, Dhaka University's Social Sciences Faculty Dean Sadeka Halim, former justices Momtazuddin and Nizamul Huq, and online activist Kabir Chowdhury Tonmoy were present at the event.