News Desk: 192 Bangladeshis and American citizens have issued a joint statement against the statements of six US Congressmen. Statements made by six US Congressmen about the human rights situation in Bangladesh are stated to be untrue.
“We, the undersigned Bangladeshis and Americans, request that the Congressmen retract the false information contained in the letter,” said a joint statement by prominent Bangladeshis and Americans comprising minority community leaders, academics and anti-war crime campaigners.
The statement also said that the ‘false information’ contained in the US Congressmen’s letter to the US President Biden’s administration will not only undermine the credibility of the Congressmen’s position on minority rights in Bangladesh, but also jeopardize the safety and security of the undersigned Bangladeshi-Americans. Especially ‘the worst part is, all these false statements (by the US congressmen) will increase the plight of the minorities in Bangladesh.
The statement by Bangladeshi-born US citizens came after Bangladeshi Hindu, Christian and Buddhist communities and their leaders called the congressman’s letter to Biden “false and misleading” seeking sanctions against the Bangladesh government.
Congressmen Bob Goode, Scott Perry, Barry Moore, Tim Burchett, Warren Davidson and Keith Self signed the letter and claimed that the Hindu population has halved since Sheikh Hasina came to power. Sheikh Hasina’s government is persecuting Bangladesh’s minority Christian population by burning houses of worship, looting, jailing priests, proselytizing and breaking up families.
The Congressmen, members of the House of Representatives, urged the government of Bangladesh to take urgent action to stop human rights violations and to give the people of the country the best possible chance in the upcoming scheduled free and fair parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, Bangladeshi Americans noted, the congressmen’s statements ignored the violence that followed the October 2001 parliamentary elections. In that election, there was massive violence against Hindus during the BNP-Jamaat-led coalition government. They said the Congressmen’s statement contained false information about the persecution of the Christian population in Bangladesh under the current government.
Rana Dasgupta, president of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, said earlier that the Congressmen’s claim that the Hindu population has halved during Sheikh Hasina’s regime is not true.
He fears that some vested interests responsible for minority oppression may be trying to win the 2024 elections in Bangladesh by misinforming US lawmakers.
The top leader of the Bangladeshi Christian community, Cardinal Archbishop Patrick D’Rosario rejected the claim of the congressmen and said that the current government has always supported the Christian community and is with them.
President of Bangladesh Christian Association Nirmal Rosario said, the reality is that since the return of Awami League, our community has been living in harmony with the support of the current government’s development projects. These projects are related to the development of minorities. The Bangladesh Buddhist Federation said in a statement that the Congressmen’s statement did not specifically mention the Buddhist community in Bangladesh. Yet there are reasons to deny the allegations mentioned in the letter. In a statement, they termed the allegation as “fictitious and fabricated”.
Bangladeshi-Americans, however, also acknowledge that Bangladesh saw persecution of religious minorities after the 2001 elections. In that election, BNP-led four-party alliance came to power as an important partner of Jamaat. “We want to emphasize that the same groups responsible for violence against Hindus and other minorities are also responsible for killing foreigners and blogger activists and carrying out bombings across the country,” they added in the statement. Agents of the same group are providing disinformation aimed at election engineering to bring violators into political power.
These expatriates, who have been actively fighting for minority rights in Bangladesh for decades, demanded the withdrawal of ‘false and misleading information’ from the Congressmen’s letter for the safety, security and well-being of Bangladesh’s minorities.
The signatories of the statement are Milborne City Mayor Mahbubul Alam Tayyab, Councilman Dr. Nuran Nabi (MJ), Nurul Hasan (NH), State Representative- Abul Khan (NH), Professor ABM Nasir (NC), Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed (PA), Nabendu Dutta (NY), scientist Dr. Sufian Khandaker, Dr. Zeena Nabi (NJ), Director of International Sustainable Development – Iqbal Yusuf, Hughes Network CEO – Nizamuddin Ahmed (VA), Engineers – Rana Hasan Mahmud (CA), Ahad Ahmed (MI), Pranbandhu Chakraborty (NY), Author – Dr. Jyoti Prakash Dutta (FL), Dr. Purvi Basu (FL), activist Safeda Basu (MA), Savita Das (NY), community leader Gopal Sanal (NY), Dr. Khandkar Mansoor (NY), Shyamal Chakraborty (NY), Parimal Karmakar (NY), Cultural Personality- Jamal Uddin Hussain (A.), Artist- Rathindra Nath Roy (NY), Gaurab Ghaval (VA), Journalist- Dastgir Jahangir (VA ), Sitanshu Guha (NY), Teacher-Dr. Dilip Nath (NY), PhD student Tauziat Ahmed (NY), Syed Rashid Ahmed Karamani (NY) and others. Source: Bass
