Worries mount as general election approaches

Religious and ethnic minorities in the country are worried about violence centring on the upcoming national general elections, although the incident of violence against them declined slightly compared to 2016, said minority leaders at a press conference yesterday.

During the past several parliamentary elections, the minority communities fell victims to pre- and post-polls violence, said the leaders, urging all political parties not to nominate candidates who are accused of carrying out violence against the minorities.

Otherwise, they would boycott the 11th national polls, expected to be held in early 2019, the leaders threatened.

Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad organised the press conference at Dhaka Reporters' Unity where they presented a report on the present status of minorities' rights.

According to the report, the number of incidents of violence against minorities decreased from 1,471 in 2016 to 1,004 last year due to different government initiatives against terrorism and militancy.

In 2017, over 30,000 people of the minority communities faced violence in which 325 of them were injured while 104 of them were either murdered or suspected to be murdered.

In 2016, at least 875 of some 33,000 victims were injured while 100 were killed or suspected to be killed, it added.

At least 15 minority women were gang-raped, 18 were raped, and 11 faced rape attempts in 2017.

Besides, at least 443 houses and business establishments of the minorities were vandalised and 87 houses were illegally occupied last year while the year 2016 saw 2,238 vandalism incidents and 1,158 illegal occupations.

Moreover, some 28 temples were vandalised last year, the report said.

The Parishad prepared the report on the basis of several media reports as well as by investigating different incidents occurred between January and December last year.

Advocate Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of the Parishad, said the decline in number is not enough to remove their fear.

"Election is like a festival for the political parties, but it is like a curse to the minority communities. Because the minorities are used to face violence before and after the polls,” he said, adding, "We are worried about our security.”

The election commission, government and political parties will be responsible if the minorities cannot take part in the polls, he added.

Several members and leaders of the Parishad including Bhikkhu Sunandapriya, Hubert Gomes and Kajal Debnath also spoke.