Bangladesh cultural minister condemns attack on minorities

Dhaka, Dec. 27 (IANS): Condemning the attacks on religious minorities and foreigners in recent times, Bangladesh Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor has said the social consciousness generated by Bengal Classical Music Festival would help eradicate the evil forces disrupting the harmony of the country.

“This festival helps to cherish the values of pluralism. But we see with concern that militancy has been born in our country. Fundamentalist forces are destroying peace in our country,” Noor said in his speech on Tuesday -the first day of the musical concert dubbed asA “biggest classical music festival in the world”.

“There is social exploitation of women and children in our country. All these make us concerned. We have to overcome these hurdles. Bangladesh is making progress but these obstacles ought to be overcome,” the minister said.

After the 2014 national elections, religious minorities have faced attacks in Bangkadesh, heightening a sense of fear among different religious groups, according to a report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Speaking of Muslim Rohingya refugees taking shelter in Bangladesh after the August 25 violence in Myanmar which forced more than 600,000 members of the community to escape to this country, Noor said: “We have given Rohingya shelter in this country. We have extended our hands and embraced them. Our Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina) has said, ‘we will surrender one of our meals but help them’.

“At the same time, we see inauspicious, fundamentalist forces want to destroy amity and harmony in this country. They want to derail us from the path of development,” he said.

Giving examples of the tribals and Buddhist minorities being targeted in Chittagong, Noor said Bangladesh will never surrender to the communal forces.

“They are killing people in the name of religion. We see we are giving shelter to foreigners but we see the people we are living alongside for thousands of years are being targeted. We saw Chittagong tribals being attacked, Buddhist coming under attack. We saw santhals being targeted…we saw in Rongpur Hindu localities were attacked.

“These hyper activities of inauspicious elements ought to be overcome. Today at any cost, we cannot surrender before this communal forces and in this struggle music will give us strength and I believe this strongly.

“This is not merely a festival. It is creating a social consciousness. Young people are enjoying classical music. If we can create this consciousness, Bangladesh will have nothing to fear. We will have our country march forward and that will be a victory of Bangladesh and its people,” he signed off.