Minorities' rights violations in secular state condemned

Speakers at a national consultation yesterday condemned the fact that Bangladesh was experiencing rights violations of minority communities of different ethnicities and religions and of the third gender despite being constitutionally secular.
State religion cannot exist in parallel with secularism in the constitution, they told the event titled “Human Rights Situation of Minority People” at The Daily Star Centre in the capital.
Human Rights Alliance Bangladesh, an alliance of 14 minority communities' organisations, organised the event with assistance from Global Human Rights Defence.
Writer Syed Abul Maksud said peace, without being ensured for minority communities, cannot be gained in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council General Secretary Rana Dasgupta said the state and politics were responsible for the communal violence.
It results from a “crisis of wealth” and is caused in Bangladesh for the tendency to grab wealth of the minority communities, said daily Amader Orthoneeti Editor Nayeemul Islam Khan.
Associate Prof Robaet Ferdous of Dhaka University's mass communication and journalism said nowadays there was little tolerance for unconventional thoughts and ideas.
The recent murder of a Rajshahi University teacher and past ones including that of eminent writer Humayun Azad were a sequel to the communal violence perpetrated by intolerant extremists, he added.