Ensure security for religious minorities during election
Speakers urge caretaker govt
Staff Correspondent
Speakers at a discussion yesterday urged the caretaker government to create a congenial atmosphere so that 80 lakh minority voters can exercise their franchise without fear in the upcoming general election.They said the religious minorities would not dare to go to the polling centres as the terrible repression unleashed by the activists of BNP-lad four-party alliance in the wake of 2001 general election still haunts them. The caretaker government should take necessary measures so that the minority voters feel secure and can cast their votes according to their free will, they added. South Asian People's Union Against Fundamentalism and Communism organised the discussion at a city hotel. Two documentaries on 'Evidence of persecution on minorities committed by four-party alliance' by writer Shahriar Kabir were also screened at the programme. Dr Hamida Hossain of Ain O Salish Kendra said that the atrocities on the minority communities were aimed at intimidating them into not voting for the candidates of their choice. The four-party alliance carried out such acts of violence also to force the minorities out of their lands so that the attackers can grab abandoned lands and property, she added. She also observed that most of the acts of violence could have been avoided if the government had taken proper security measures in time. Waliur Rahman of Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs said it is high time to stamp out religious extremism. The nation would be at stake unless drastic measures are taken right now, he added. Dr Qazi Faruque Ahmed of Sammilita Nagorik Andolon said thousands of incidents of violence that took place during the BNP-Jamaat regime went unreported and such incidents are still taking place in the country. He urged the civil society and international community to send observers to the affected areas and put pressure on the caretaker government to take security measures for the minorities. The BNP-Jamaat alliance has resorted to violence against the minority communities to make Bangladesh a monolithic society, said Prof Ajoy Roy. Prof Kabir Chowdhury said that the pattern and magnitude of the repression is frightening and such repression can only be compared with the activities of the Nazis.
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