Academics, professionals and minority leaders on Saturday alleged that Bangladesh had failed to become a state for all its people in the more than five decades of its independence.
鈥楾herefore, the foundation of establishing a non-discriminatory state lies in the commitment to non-communalism, equal rights and dignity for all citizens,鈥� they said.
The remarks came at a discussion on the 鈥楬uman rights of religious and ethnic minority communities: tasks and responsibilities鈥� organised by Minority Unity Movement at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka city.
They also said that all political parties since the independence of Bangladesh used the minority people for political gains, but no one was ever truly committed to establishing the rights and dignity of the minority communities.
Dhaka University former professor Syed Anwar Husain said, 鈥極ur dream that Bangladesh would be a humane country remains elusive till today.鈥�
鈥楽tate religion has caused the biggest destruction in Bangladesh,鈥� he said, adding that secularism and state聽聽 religion, both included in the constitution, were in stark contradiction with each other.
鈥榃e have to uphold the spirit of the War of Independence because we cannot survive destroying the spirit of the war of liberation,鈥� he said.
鈥業 believe that 鈥渕inority鈥� is the most undemocratic word in the constitution because all are citizens of the country,鈥� he also said, adding that the word would have to be removed from the constitution.
Dhaka University law professor Hafizur Rahman Curzon said that the War of Independence and its spirit were the worst victims of discrimination after August 5, and an environment of fear prevailed in the country.
He also demanded the immediate release of Hindu religious leader Chinmoy Krishna Das arrested on the charges of sedition.
鈥榃e need a universal identity that will not be based on religion. Attacks on minorities are a symptom of the disease, the root is communalism,鈥� said Professor Curzon.
He raised a question as to why the population of both religious and ethnic minority communities was decreasing in Bangladesh and if there was communal harmony why Hindu and Buddhist temples, mosques and churches needed to be guarded.
Professor Curzon also felt the need to work more closely with all international human rights organisations and institutions, including the United Nations.
Manindra Kumar Nath, acting general secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, said that 2,010 incidents of violence were perpetrated against minorities across the country between August 4 and August 20.
He mentioned that the violence included nine killings, attacks and vandalism at 69 temples, four rape incidents, attacks on and looting of 915 residences of minorities, attacks and vandalism at 953 business establishments, torture of 38 people, and grabbing of 21 businesses.
The sectarian violent incidents still continued, Manindra said.
Dhaka University professor Zobaida Nasreen said that communalism was practised in various ways throughout the post-independence period.
She also said that attacks against minorities could not be justified on the pretext of political involvement.
The reason behind filing cases against minority leaders was to keep them in fear, she said, urging the minority people to protest together.
Journalist Abu Sayeed Khan, advisory editor of Samakal, said that it was sad but true that communalism could not be eradicated from Bangladesh鈥檚 soil.
鈥榃henever there is a change of government, indiscriminate persecution of minority communities breaks out,鈥� he lamented.
Human rights activist Shamsul Huda said that material interests are involved behind the attacks on minorities. If minorities are not protected, a state cannot be a civilized state, he added.
鈥楳inorities have been used as a trump card by all governments, and are still being used,鈥� said Father Albert T Rosario, a Christian cleric.
Minority leader Theophil Nokrek said that the constitution did not properly recognise ethnic groups.
Indigenous people wanted recognition as indigenous people, he said, adding that the International Labour Organisation conventions 107 and 169 must be implemented to ensure national minority communities鈥� land rights.
Lawyer Subrata Chowdhury said that today there was discrimination in all areas. 鈥榃e have no option but to protest on the streets,鈥� he said.
The speakers also said in the discussion that both minority communities and the majority community come together and take to the streets to protest against all communal forces.
Speakers from the discussion demanded withdrawal of all cases against the minority leaders, including Rana Dashgupta, filed after August 5, saying that they were based on false allegations.
They also demanded immediate release of the minority people and leaders, Hindu religious leader Chinmoy Krishna das Brahmachari.
Minority Unity Movement leaders at the programme said that they would prepare a position paper with recommendations received from the discussion to submit to all the reform commissions set up by the interim government.
In another development, politicians and religious minority leaders on Saturday urged the interim government to take more steps to resolve sectarian issues that occurred in the country after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime on August 5.
They made the demand in a discussion organised by the Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mahajote at the National Press Club in Dhaka.
The organisation鈥檚 president Dinabandhu Roy chaired the meeting.
Barrister Rumin Farhana, a central leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and a former lawmaker, said that if the parliament could have reserved seats for women it could have reserved seats for religious minorities also.
Gobinda Chandra Pramanik, the secretary general of the Mahajote, read out the keynote paper at the discussion.
He urged the interim government to take immediate steps to resolve sectarian issues across the country.
He demanded reserved seats for the religious minorities in the national and other elections.
Ehsanul Mahbub Joabaer, an assistant secretary general of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, also favoured the issue of keeping reserved seats for the Hindu minority in the elections.
Asraf Ali Akond, a presidium member of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh, said that their party favoured proportional system of elections for ensuring more representation in the parliament.
Hindu Mahajote leaders Pradip Kumar Paul, Dulal Mandal and Tarun Ghosh, among others, also spoke.