Alert: Urgent Action Called: help protect minorities in Bangladesh

[Guest guest]

Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM)

 

P.O. Box 5493

 

Santa Clara, CA 95056

 

USA

http://www.hrcbm.org;

Email: info

Ph: 212-592-3627

Fax: 212-202-6251

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, 27 August 2004

HRCBM/Bang/UA_08_27_04/Protection_2004

Bangladesh:

Protect the Life and Properties of Religious and Ethnic Minorities and Rights

Activists. Ensure Human Rights and Freedom of Expression. Restore Secularism and

Communal Harmony.

 

 

Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) is gravely concerned at

the renewed wave of violence and utter human rights abuses being perpetrated

against the religious and ethnic minorities of Bangladesh and alleged false

cases brought against the minority leaders of the port city of Chittagong by the

vested quarters as the nation is reeling under the shock of the unprecedented

attack on the leadership of Awami League including the leader of the opposition

at the peaceful rally on Saturday, 21 August 2004. Safety and security of

Advocate Rana Das Gupta, Advocate Chandan Biswas, Advocate Ashoke Das and

Advocate Chandan Talukder, all belonging to minority community of Chittagong,

must be ensured. Human rights of all minorities, the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian,

Aadibashi (indigenous people’s community), tribal people and the Ahmadiyya

Muslim community, must be protected.

 

 

 

A few of the recent reported cases of human rights abuses are given below.

 

 

 

22 Hindu Houses Torched, Robbed and 20 Hurt in Raid by 'BNP' Men

The Daily Star (25 August 2004, Rafique Sarker, Rangpur correspondent) reported,

“Armed mobsters with alleged links to ruling BNP in a raid on a remote village

under Pirgachha upazila in the district on Monday torched 22 houses of minority

Hindus, injured 20 villagers and looted cash, crops and cattle. … … A group of

35 to 40 BNP activists armed with machetes, swords and daggers cordoned the

Hindu-majority Adam Sarkerpara village in the afternoon and set fire to the

houses of eight Hindu families after spraying gasoline and kerosene on them. …

…”

 

 

False Allegation against Minority Leaders of Chittagong

The Daily Vorer Kagoj (27 August 2004): Vested quarters of the ruling coalition

government in Chittagong brought false allegation against the minority leaders

in the port city of Chittagong, human rights activist and a leader of the Hindu,

Buddhist and Christian Unity Council, Advocate Rana Das Gupta, Advocate Chandan

Biswas, Advocate Ashoke Das and Advocate Chandan Talukder, of burning government

properties during the general strike on 22 August 2004 called by the opposition

parties to protest the killing of 19 people including a prominent leader of

Awami League on 21 August 2004 in Dhaka. The minority leaders were not even

present in any such demonstration. The allegation must be properly investigated

and those who are involved in the conspiracy to eliminate and cripple the

minority leadership must be identified and punished according to the law of the

land irrespective of any party affiliation.

 

 

 

Bigots to Capture Ahmadiyya Mosque Today: Civil Society Vows to Resist; Police

Detain 2 Top Zealots

 

The Daily Star (27 August 2004, Staff Correspondent, Dhaka) reported, “Dhaka is

bracing for a probable confrontation, as religious fanatics march today to

capture the Ahmadiyya headquarters in Bakshibazar and the civil society gathers

there to resist them. The city is literally sitting on a heap of gunpowder with

the zealots of Aamra Dhakabashi, a city-based cultural

organization-turned-Islamist outfit, refusing to withdraw their programme to

demolish and occupy the Ahmadiyya complex”. The Ahmadiyya Muslim community must

be safeguarded and the perpetrators prosecuted.

 

 

 

In an editorial, The Daily Observer, 26 August 2004, reported, “After the

October, 2001 election, the ruling party cadres carried out an onslaught on the

minority Hindus almost throughout the country. Little did the caretaker

government or the triumphant parties do to discourage their followers. … …”.

As the country is recovering from the shock of one of the most violent attacks

on democracy, freedom of expression and rights of the people since the

assassination of the father of the nation in 1975, the minority communities

throughout the country are under serious attack on their lives and property. In

many remote places of the country, which are almost inaccessible to the modern

media, they are on the verge of annihilation. After the total failure of the

government to protect the leader of the opposition and participants of the

peaceful demonstration organized by Awami League, “the opportunists” and the

cadres of the ruling BNP-Jamaat-E-Islami led four party coalition “have found

this situation a propitious moment for advancing their narrow and illegal

interests”.

 

 

 

It is apparent from the news published in national and international media that

powerful elements within the coalition government are on a mission to eliminate

the minority community and their leaders as a part of well-planned

ethno-religious cleansing operation. The criminals, irrespective of party

affiliation, must be apprehended and punished. The affected families must be

appropriately rehabilitated and protected.

 

 

Urgent Action Demanded

The Human Right Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) vehemently protests

and condemns these attacks on the minority community and their leaders. We

protest and condemn in the strongest possible terms all on-going brutality,

killings, eviction, rape, attack on places of worship and human rights abuses

perpetrated on the religious and ethnic minorities.

 

 

 

We appeal to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and the conscience of the peoples,

governments and human rights institutions, including the United Nations, for

immediate protection of the life, properties and freedom of expression of the

religious and ethnic minorities and all citizens of Bangladesh.

 

 

 

 

APPEAL TO:

 

Honorable Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia

 

Office of the Prime Minister

 

Gano Bhaban

 

Sher-e Bangla Nagar

 

Dhaka, Bangladesh

 

Telgrams: Prime Minister Zia, Dhaka

Bangladesh

 

Fax: 880-2-811-3243

Email: pm

 

Salutation: Dear Prime Minister or Hon’ble Prime Minister.

 

 

 

Honorable Home Minister,

Fax: 880-2-811-3243

Salutation: Hon’ble Home Minister

 

 

 

Mr.Mudabbir Hossain Chowdhury

Inspector General of Police

Police Headquarter

Fulbaria, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Telegrams: Inspector-General Chowdhury

 

Fulbaria, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Fax: 880-2-956-3362; 880-2-956-3363

Salutation: Dear Sir

 

 

PLEASE SEND THE APPEAL IMMEDIATELY:

Please voice your support, fax or mail your appeal to the addresses above, and

help save humanity from the perils of barbaric atrocities.

 

 

 

Please contact us at info for any question and further details.

 

 

 

NB: This Urgent Action Appeal has been sent to the UN Secretary General, US

State Department, US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Bangladesh Ambassador to the US,

Amnesty International, IMF, World Bank, Paris Consortium, International Human

Rights Organizations, world leaders and governments all over the world.