Agartala, Dec 22: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has ensured the safety of Hindus in the country, but a sense of security is yet to prevail among the minority community, Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy has said.
“The minority Hindus are now safe in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina took over as the Prime Minister of the country.
She has taken safety and security measures for the Hindus who constitute only eight per cent of the population,” Roy said during a discussion last night on his book, ‘Ja Chhilo Amar Desh’ (What my country used to be).
“But, still a sense of insecurity prevails despite taking measures,” Roy said.
“I have written this book after extensive research, because no writer has so far properly depicted what prompted the Hindus to migrate to India (from then East Pakistan) after the partition in 1947,” the Tripura Governor said.
“All of them wrote about how they (migrants) struggled to settle down after migration, but they did not write about violation of human rights in the then East Pakistan and how land of Hindus were grabbed, houses torched and women molested,” he said.
Roy said the minority population in Bangladesh including Buddhists, Christians and Hindus, was earlier around 29 per cent, which has now reduced to 8 per cent.
Roy’s ancestral house was in a village at Brahmanbaria district of present Bangladesh, about 40 km from here.
He said the rights of minorities were persecuted even after Bangladesh was liberated in 1971, since a pro-Pakistan government ruled the country for years after the brutal assassination of ‘Bangabandhu’ Sheikh Mujibar Rahaman.
To a question, Roy said, the present Bangladesh government should regularly make announcements through different agencies about the its commitment to instill confidence among the minorities that the present government had taken many measures to safeguard them.
“Truth must prevail and that was the reason behind searching out the untold stories of torture, which many people are not aware about. I know, by hushing up the truth and reality, no good can be delivered.
“But nobody should think that I am against friendship with Bangladesh. We speak the same language and share same culture and we need to strengthen our friendship with that country,” Roy said.
He said many people were aware about the massacres in Noakhali in East Pakistan, but not many know what happened at Chuknagar in Khulna district.
“More than 10,000 Hindus were killed on May 20, 1971 when the Pakistani Army opened fire at Hindus and later Razakars (Collaborators) joined the Pak Army and butchered them,” he said.
“Only 1,500 people died in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Punjab, but many people do not know that 10,000 people died in Chuknagar,” the Governor added.
