United Nations/Geneva:
The arrest of a Hindu leader in Dhaka has been ‘misrepresented’ and he has been arrested on specific charges. Bangladesh said this to the United Nations forum related to minority issues. He claimed that there has been no planned attack on minorities in the country.
Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das, a former member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was arrested from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday. On Tuesday, the Sixth Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Chittagong refused bail to him in a sedition case and sent him to jail.
Islam made this statement during the 17th session of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva on 28-29 November. Hindus started protesting in various places including the capital Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong after Chinmoy Das, the leader of Hindu group Samishta Sanatani Jote, was sent to jail. India has expressed deep concern over these developments, while a diplomatic row has arisen between the two South Asian neighbours.
Referring to the arrest of Chinmoy Das, the representative said that ISKCON is a very popular and peaceful organization, but its former leader “has been arrested without any charges. He was arrested in Dhaka three days ago and now every day in Bangladesh… police, army… are torturing minorities.”
Islam said that Bangladesh affirms that every Bangladeshi has the right to practice his or her respective religion or express views freely, regardless of religious identity. He said, ‘Ensuring the security of every citizen, including the minority community, remains the priority of the interim government of Bangladesh.’
He said that violence broke out in Bangladesh after August 5 due to political and personal reasons and not due to communal reasons. The violence mostly affected people with partisan political affiliations, Islam said. Almost all of them were Muslims and only a few belonged to other minority religious groups.
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