At a meeting in Dhaka recently over 60 minority community leaders from different parts of the country have welcomed the absence of Jamaat e Islami from last month’s parliamentary election and from the newly formed parliament as well.
The meeting attended by central committee members of the country’s largest minority platform, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, was called to assess the 12th parliamentary polls and its outcome, said one leader who attended it.
Drawing on from past experiences when Jamaat leaders became lawmakers, in league with BNP, and used their parliamentary speeches for running communal campaign, they described the outfit staying out of parliament as a renewed cause for “igniting hopes and raising optimism” for a future anchored on “communal harmony.”
This has been gathered from several leaders who attended the closed door meeting where the media was not invited.
Jamaat is disqualified from taking part in any election in Bangladesh after it lost its registration with the Election Commission. BNP, the outfit’s key ally, boycotted the vote after the government rejected its demand for holding the polls under a neutral caretaker administration.
In the run up to the polls, Jamaat waged a simultaneous movement with BNP aiming to grab power without polls, including enforcing blockade and running hate campaigns against different communities including Ahmediyyas, the meeting observed.
The meeting also noted with dismay that the combine is still clinging onto similar demands.
After Jamaat announced to introduce Saariah law if it comes to power, Tarique Rahman, the acting chief, made reported reach out attempts to it for courting support in the movement for power, the meeting observed.
Several speakers at the meeting expressed concern over a renewed push to solidify the alliance, putting an end to much hyped claim that BNP has distanced from Jamaat.
The leaders also found the conduct of polls an essential marker for the continuation of democratic process and the outcome lived up to the aspirations of minority voters, with large scale voters participation reported in a free and fair manner.
Ranjan Karmaker, a rights activist who also attended the meeting, told their assessment has been based on objective analysis on five decades of communal card played by Jamaat and BNP to solidify their grip on power.
He said the call by Tarique to decide the fate of the country on the streets instead of facing ballots was denounced by many of the speakers at the meeting.
They also referred to his historic patronage for rabidly religious militants and bigots like Bangla Bhai and defence to ensure impunity for those communal forces who carried out the largest pogrom against minorities.
It was observed that renewed denial of such crimes are adequate pointers what make the acting BNP chief a threat for secular credentials, added Karmaker, a presidium member of the platform.
In reference to an earlier BNP effort to project the condition of minorities as appalling through a letter by six US congressmen, they also commented that “similar efforts to spread false projection against minorities are set in motion after the polls by the combine to mislead the global community”.
Responding to the claim, D’Rozario said, “From my experience, I can say this statement belies reality. The real situation on the ground is completely different from what has been stated in the letter.”
“Under the current government, Christians have received support; it is safe to say that they have stood by us,” said D’Rozario, who, in 2016, became the first Bangladeshi to be formally inducted into the Roman Catholic Church’s College of Cardinals, an elite body which advises and elects popes.
On polls induced violence, the meeting pointed out that the 2001 post polls violence after BNP came to power had by far been the largest violence faced the country.
In 2001, after assuming power, Zia’s widow Begum Khaleda Zia, made war criminals as ministers and even that tenure (BNP Jamaat combine ) witnessed one of the largest state sponsored pogrom against minorities and progressive forces as around 28000 incidents of communal attacks were recorded by minority groups across the country, observed the meeting.
However BNP and Jamaat members were reportedly found involved in burning down of monastery, assault on Hindu voters and intimidation of women voters in northern villages.
Both BNP and Jamaat have rejected the allegations as propaganda against them.
