DHAKA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised a demand in Rajya Sabha on Thursday for sending an all-party delegation to Bangladesh to assess the “atrocities on minority communities” here by Jamaat-e-Islami.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Tarun Vijay (BJP) said atrocities were being committed on the minority communities, who have been reduced to only nine per cent of the population now from 28 per cent at the time of creation of Bangladesh.
“Hindu minority is subjected to severe atrocities…They are being killed, forced to take refuge in India, and their abandoned properties are seized after being declared as wasteful property,” he alleged.
He lauded the recent Shahbagh uprising saying it was a display of secular democratic forces that all Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Bengalis were Bangladeshis.
Vijay said, “Jamaat-e-Islami had sided with Pakistan during 1971 war and later when three (actually two) of their leaders were hanged for charges of scores of minority communities killed, women raped and murdered and the atrocities were still continuing in retaliation.”
Seeking Indian government intervention, Chandan Mitra (BJP) said, “Situation is explosive at this juncture in Bangladesh. Jamaat-e-Islami, backed by Pakistan and ISI and Huji, was creating a situation were Hindus and Buddhists were subjected to atrocities and 78 Buddhist places were torched.”
Mitra, who had accompanied President Pranab Mukherjee to the neighboring nation during his recent visit, said the delegation held talks about the situation with the Bangladeshi authorities.
Party colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad said it was violation of human rights in Bangladesh and demanded a response from the government.
To this, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla said, “I will convey the feelings of the House to External Affairs Minister and he will give a response.
MAR 8, 2013
