The focus of the meeting will be the safety and protection of the Hindu community, their properties and establishments, and temples.
New Delhi: Bangladesh’s interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus called for a meeting with the members of the Hindu community, including Hindu students and youth on Monday, 12 August 2024 to address the incidents of the alleged attacks on religious minorities in the country ever since Sheikh Hasina fled on August 5.
The focus of the meeting will be the safety and protection of the Hindu community, their properties and establishments, and temples and other religious places, said Muhammad Yunus.
There have been reports of Hindus being attacked, their properties being attacked, and temples being vandalised following which, the country’s interim government said it was working to resolve attacks on Hindus and other religious minorities after Sheikh Hasina resigned and left Bangladesh.
“The attacks on religious minorities in some places have been noted with grave concern,” the interim cabinet said in its first official statement and the cabinet said it will “immediately sit with the representative bodies and other concerned groups to find ways to resolve such heinous attacks”.
Hindu students have prepared an eight-point demand charter for their meeting with Yunus. Hindu groups have been staging protests to demand the implementation of a law to protect their rights, says a report by India Today.
The demands of the Hindu students include the establishment of a fast-track tribunal for trials in cases of attacks on minorities, a ministry of minority affairs, a minority protection law, five-day holiday during Durga Puja, upgrading the Hindu Religious Welfare Trust to a foundation, and modernising the Pali Education Board, said the report.
Hindus form the largest minority in Bangladesh.
Members and groupd from the minority communities as well as Muslims have been staging massive protest rallies in Dhaka and Chattagram since August 9 expressing solidarity and demanding safety and protection of minorities.
“Let us make the best use of our new victory. I fervently appeal to everybody to stay calm. Please refrain from all kinds of violence,” said Muhammad Yunus just after arriving in Dhaka from Paris on August 8.