BANGLADESH: CLEANSING OF ETHNO-RELIGIOUS MINORITIES MUST BE STOPPED

Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities-Dallas Fort Worth (HRCBM-DFW) condemns in the strongest possible terms the ongoing violence and human rights abuses perpetrated against the law-abiding ethno-religious and tribal minority citizens and all citizens of Bangladesh in general.

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) December 18, 2003 --Today, on the heels of the Banshkhali Massacre", in Chittagong, where 11 members of the same Hindu family including seven women and a newborn baby were burnt alive at early hours of Wednesday, 19 November 2003, we report to you with the gravest concern and anguish that another massacre of much greater proportion is brewing in the village of Dignara, Kailail Mashail Union Council, Nowabganj Upazila (Sub-district), Dhaka, - a stone's throw from the Bangladesh capital Dhaka across the bank of the river Buriganga that borders Dhaka on the south.

We further report with deepest anguish the death of Arun Das while in police custody and, the news of ongoing torture of a Hindu lawyer Sanjoy Kumar Sen of Manikganj Bar Association.

Hundred Bangladeshi Hindu Minority Families in Dignara (Near Dhaka) Are On the Verge of Annihilation:

Barbaric atrocities have been going on against the 100 Hindu minority families of Rishi Para of Dignara village as well as everywhere in Bangladesh since October 2001 General Election (See www.hrcbm.org/breakingnews). In Dingara so far, the Hindu (Rishi) families who are already struggling to make ends meet, have been forced to pay more than TK 300,000 as Ziziya (infidel protection tax) just to protect their lives. Abduction, gang rape, imposition of Ziziya tax, extortion, violent barbaric attack to kill and eviction and filing of a made up false case followed by arrest and torture have become the norm for the minorities of Dignara. On the verge of total eviction the minorities protested the ongoing violence perpetrated on them and appealed to the Home Minister, Mr. Altaf Hussain Chowdhury, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Dhaka, Mr. Khoda Baksh Chowdhury, Superintendent of Police (SP), Dhaka, Mr.Mahabubur Rahaman, Officer in Charge (OC) of Nowabganj, Mr. Shamsul Haque. However, so far none of the criminals have been arrested and punished. Rather, OC, Nowabganj, instead of coming forward to help, sided with the perpetrators, threatened the minorities that if they continued to complain they will be forced out of the country to India. The news of ongoing human rights abuses and barbaric violence has been published in several local and national newspapers (Refer to: http://www.hrcbm.org).

Advocate Rabindra, President, HRCBM-Dhaka Chapter, investigated the incidents and personally appealed to the Home Minister, DIG and SP of Police, Dhaka, the OC of Nowabganj and the member of the parliament belonging to the ruling party, BNP, Mr. M.A. Mannan of Nowabganj, for their intervention to protect the minorities from total eviction and for punishment of the culprits. Unfortunately, neither the law enforcement authority, the Home Minister, nor the MP have paid any attention to the appeals of the victims and HRCBM-Dhaka. Ironically, the culprits in collusion with the OC of Nowabganj made up a case against the victims as well as the human rights activist Mr. Rabindra Ghosh. Two of the victims, Mr. Bhakta Das and Arun Das, are fighting for their lives in hospital in Dhaka (Refer t: www.hrcbm.org/breakingnews).

The notorious culprits implicated in at least four criminal cases who are still on the loose and continuing their reign of terror on the Hindu families are: 1) Md. Rafique Mridha, 2) Md. Saizuddin Bepari, 3) Aynal, 4) Shamir, 5) Jamir, 6) Ansu, 7) Mansu, 8) Md. Deen Islam, and 9) Md. Kasem Ali of Dignara, Nowabganj.

Can the international community and the citizens of the world wait for another massacre of Bangladeshi minorities of greater magnitude than that of Banshkhali, which is about to happen in Dignara, Dhaka?

Killing of Amar Das in Remand in Police Custody:

We condemn the killing of Amar Das (on December 10, 2003) of Chittagong by the police while he was in remand in strongest possible words (The Daily Janakantha, December 12, 2003). We demand that a thorough investigation must be conducted and those who are responsible for the death must be prosecuted. Justice must be endowed.

Repression and torture of Sanjoy Kumar Sen, a Hindu Advocate, of Manikganj Bar Association:

Advocate Rabindra Ghosh, president, HRCBM-Dhaka Chapter, investigated and reported the repression and torture of Advocate Sanjoy Kumar Sen of Manikganj Bar Association on December 12, 2003. Mr. Shahriar Kabir, a journalist and human rights activist, reported the incident to Mr. Ghosh. It should be noted that violence and threat for life have been issued against the leaders of the minority community for some time. We have reported earlier that the minority leaders of Manikganj have been given ultimatum by local Harkatul-E-Jihad to convert to Islam in seven days or face death (Refer to: www.hrcbm.org/breakingnews). We urge the prime minister of Bangladesh to personally intervene without any further delay and save the minority law-abiding citizens of Manikganj from forced conversion, eviction and death.

We appeal to the Government of Bangladesh (a) to stop and prevent violence and human rights abuses against its ethno-religious and tribal minorities, (b) to uphold the freedom and justice enshrined in the Universal Declaration of human Rights (UDHR) of the UN, (c) to bring the perpetrators to justice, and (d) to rehabilitate and provide due reparations to the victims.

We demand that constitutional secularism must be restored and implemented. We appeal to the civil society of Bangladesh to stand firm and prevent the premeditated transformation of once pluralistic and secular Bangladesh into a monolithic fundamentalist Islamic nation.

The civil society of Bangladesh and the international community including the UN must pay immediate attention and save the lives of Hindu minorities of Dignara, as well as protect the lives, dignity and livelihood of its non-Muslim citizens in all of Bangladesh from the premeditated ethno-religious and tribal minority cleansing unleashed since October 2001.
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