Safety of minorities: Bangladesh accuse India of hypocrisy

Dhaka: Bangladesh on Friday accused India of hypocrisy when it comes to the safety of minorities, stating that when India demands the safety and security of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh, there were scores of reports of targeted attacks on Muslims in India. Bangladesh added that there was no regret from Indian political leaders and authorities for the violence against minority groups in India, Siasat reported.

It was the Law Affairs Adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government, Asif Nazrul, who voiced the accusations via a Facebook post. His post comes when tensions are soaring over the arrest of Hindu leader Chinmoy Krishna Das by Bangladesh authorities over charges of sedition. Bangladesh is also putting efforts for the repatriation of their former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who fled the country in August and took asylum in India over crime against humanity.

Nazrul’s post on Facebook accused India of “double standards” and criticized the country’s perceived hypocrisy in addressing minority rights.

Nazrul listed some incidents of violence against minority groups in India, especially targeted attacks on the Muslim community, stating that “there is no regret” from the Indian political leaders and authorities for these discriminative actions, which he described as “shameful” and “condemnable”.

He listed some of the incidents of violence against minorities in India, and he condemned the discriminative actions of Indian authorities, calling it “shameful” and “condemnable”.

He wrote, “In India, numerous incidents of brutality on minority Muslim community is going on. But they don’t have any remorse or embarrassment (over those incidents). This double standard of India is condemnable and objectionable.”

He cited a poll by the Voice of America Bangla, which inferred that 64.1 per cent of Bangladeshi minorities feel that the current interim government offers a greater security guarantee than what the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League offered. But India’s narrative on violent protests against Hasina, her ouster and the violence incidence that accompanied this year is a stark contrast to the poll.

Meanwhile, the interim government in Bangladesh urged journalists there to counter “misinformation” narrated by Indian media with “truth”.

“We must tell our stories our way else they (Indian media) will set our narrative according to their liking,” Siasat quoted interim government’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam.

He said that an industrial-scale misinformation campaign has been carried out by certain Indian media outlets and their social media platforms.

In the meantime, a group of students staged a demonstration at the Dhaka University campus demanding a stoppage to India’s alleged interference in Bangladesh’s internal affairs. They accused India of “border killings”, religious persecution and attempts to instigate communal conflicts in Bangladesh. They alleged that India exploits religious differences to destabilise the country.