HVK Archives: Hasina govt offers ray of hope to minorities; and a reponse
Hasina govt offers ray of hope to minorities; and a reponse - The Economic Times
Tarun Basu
()
11 September 1996
Title : Hasina govt offers ray of hope to Hindus, other
minorities
Author : Tarun Basu
Publication : The Economic Times
Date : September 11, 1996
When Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated
the Janmashtami festival in the port city of Chittagong
last month, she sent a hopeful signal to the nearly 18
million minority population of the country.
Three years ago the Janmashtami procession in Dhaka was
stoned by fundamentalists who were harbouring grudges
against Hindus in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid
demolition at Ayodhya.
Earlier Hindu temples were attacked and there were
reports of violence against Hindus around the country
which led to a large exodus of the community to India.
Last year Prime Minister Khaleda Zia did attend the
Janmashtami celebrations briefly but only after most of
the celebrations were over.
This year, according to Hindu leaders, Prime Minister
Hasina made it a point to go to the festival on time and
stayed on to intermingle with the Hindu worshippers.
This attitude of the Awami League government has given
cause for hope to the nation's minorities who comprise
about 15 per cent of the 128 million population,
according to Mr Neem Bhowmick, general secretary of the
Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Unity Council.
Mr Bhowmick, an assistant professor of applied physics at
Dhaka University, said that the council had demanded
'proportional representation for minorities based on
secular ideas in all sections of society' and restoration
of the 1972 secular constitution.
In 1988 the then government of General Hussain Muhammad
Ershad had made Islam a state religion of the country.
The council was formed against this background in 1989
when 20,000 members from minority groups from across
Bangladesh gathered in Dhaka to make common cause between
them.
The council held its third convention in May this year
demanding, besides restoration of the 1972 constitution,
repeal of the Enemy Vested Property Act of 1965 which has
been used to deprive Hindus and other minorities of their
land, return of ten million refugees from India and
revival of the spirit of independence.
The council also gave a call for resisting communalism
and fundamentalism in Bangladesh.
Mr Bhowmick said the present constitution was being used
to discriminate against minorities and deprive them of
equal rights with majority Muslims.
Mr Bhowmick said that Hindus were competing equally with
Muslims when given an opportunity as witnessed in the
recent secondary school results where two Hindus were
among the toppers.
He said the proportion of minorities in the services was
only three to five per cent, in the police less than two
per cent and in the army less than one per cent.
Among 18 generals in the Bangladesh Army there was none
from the minorities, he said.
Among 35 officers of brigadier rank there was only one
from the minorities and among 5,000 other officers there
were 22 from the minorities.
However, Mr Bhowmick's claims could not be independely
confirmed.
He said in the first Awami League government in
Bangladesh the percentage of minorities In the services
was at an all time high of 15 to 20 per cent in
proportion to their population.
The percentage had come down to 14-16 per cent during the
regime of President Ershad and had plummeted to an all
time low 6f three per cent in the Bangladesh Nationalist
Party (BNP) government of Mrs Khaleda Zia.
The minorities were now hoping that the return of the
Awami League government would restore the minorities to
their proportional status, Mr Bhowmick said. - IANS
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-----------
Response to the above:
From:
Ashok V Chowgule
Kanchanjunga
72, Dr G Deshmukh Marg,
Mumbai 400026.
September 11, 1996
Sir,
This has reference to the news item "Hasina govt offers ray of hope to =
Hindus, other minorities" (Sept 11) by Shri Tarun Basu. One would get =
an
impression that the obscurantist elements in Bangladesh targeted the
Hindu minorities only after the events at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. =
A
reading of Lajja, the novel by Smt Taslima Nasreen, would clearly show =
that the Hindus have been under pressure even before the partition of thi=
s
country, and the atrocities against them have continued ever since. And =
it
is not only the Hindus have been at the receiving end, but also the
Buddhists, who are concentrated in the hill tracts of Chakmas, and who =
have now become refugees in India. This exodus has a history or more
than thirty years.
What is happening to the minorities in Bangladesh and Pakistan has
received very little attention at the international level. In the former=
country,
the percentage population of minorities has come down from about 30% in =
1941, to about 25% in 1950, and is now about 15%, while in Pakistan the =
comparable figures are 21%, 17% and less than 1.5% today. At the same =
time, the alleged discrimination of minorities in India, where the popula=
tion
share has increased, even if slightly, since 1947, gets immediate
international attention. Secularism means that problems of Hindus must =
be swept under the carpet.
Yours sincerely,
(Ashok Chowgule)
The Editor,
The Economic Times,
Times of India Bldg,
D N Road,
Mumbai 400 001.
Back
Top
|
