Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee and thirty eminent citizens of Bangladesh on Saturday voiced concern over the recent attack on the Ahmadiyya community in Panchagarh, which left two people dead.
They also demanded immediate arrest of the rioters and urged the government to prevent religious extremism to avert further attack on minorities.
“If effective action had been taken in the past against attacks carried out on the Ahmadiyya community or other religious minority groups, today's situation would not have arisen in the month of independence, thirty eminent citizens said in a statement sent to the media under the banner of “SachetonNagorikSamaj” on Saturday.
Not only the Ahmadiyya community but other religious minorities in different parts of the country are also being attacked by “extremist Islamist militant groups, and such attacks have been on the rise,” reads the statement.
“But the state has always been inactive in stopping or countering these attacks, which tarnishes Bangladesh's policy of secularism and religious freedom developed through the Liberation War,” the eminent citizens said.
The eminent citizens also urged a strict policy against ending the government's liability by forming a probe committee and keeping a few days of police protection at the scene after each incident.
The 30 citizens are former advisors to a caretaker government Advocate Sultana Kamal and Rasheda K Chowdhury, Oikya NAP President Pankaj Bhattacharya, Theatre Activist RamenduMajumder, Trustee of the Liberation War Museum DrSarwar Ali, President of SammilitoSamajikAndolon Syed Anwar Hossain, General Secretary of Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council Advocate Rana Das Gupta, President of Women's Council DrFawzia Muslim, Member Secretary of Anti-Communalism and Militancy Dr Noor Mohammad Talukder, President of Bangladesh Farmers Association SMA Sabur, Human rights activist KhushiKabir, Senior lawyer of Bangladesh Supreme Court Advocate Tabarak Hossain, Dhaka University Professor MM Akash, RobayetFerdous, Dhaka University Senate Member Ranjit Kumar Saha and ALRD Executive Director Shamsul Huda, Saleh Ahmed, General Secretary of SammilitoSamajikAndolon, Mesbahuddin Ahmed, President of JatiyaSramikJote, ParvejHasem, Advocate of Bangladesh Supreme Court, Dr. JobaidaNasreen, Professor of Dhaka University, AK Azad, cultural activist, Jahangir Alam, Social worker and Bangladesh Chatraa League (BSL) general Secretary GoutamShil.
Seperately, EkattorerGhatakDalalNirmul Committee also voiced concern and urged the government to take immediate actions againsts the rioters.
The platform also blamed Jamaat- Hefazat-e-Islam axis behind the attack on minorities.
“They (Jamaat- Hefazat-e-Islam) attack the Ahmadiyya community to create a civil war like situation in the country before the upcoming election.”
“We are demanding immediate arrest and trials (those who are behind the attack) and banning the politics of terror in the name of religion.” EkattorerGhatakDalalNirmul Committee said in the statement.
Two men were killed and at least 50 people sustained injuries in the clash of a section of Muslim devotees and police demanding the closure of a QadianiSalanaJalsa in Panchagarh town on Friday.
The protesters also set fire to a traffic police office and the homes of Ahmadiyya followers while burning tyres on the streets.
Members of the law enforcement agencies including Border Guard Bangladesh have been patrolling the Sadar upazila of the district on Saturday to ward off further tensions.
