NEW DELHI, Dec 26: India on Friday said the “unremitting hostilities” against minorities in Bangladesh was a matter of grave concern even as it reiterated that the coming parliamentary elections in that country must be free, fair and inclusive.
New Delhi also reacted cautiously to the return to his home country of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) acting chairman Tarique Rahman saying it should be seen in the context of ensuring inclusive polls. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India condemns the recent killing of Hindu youth Dipu Chandra Das in Mymensingh.
“The unremitting hostilities against the minorities in Bangladesh including Hindus, Christians and Buddhists is a matter of grave concern. We condemn the recent killing of a Hindu youth in Bangladesh and expect that the perpetrators of the crime will be brought to justice,” he said at his weekly media briefing.
Mr Jaiswal said India was closely following the developments in Bangladesh. Over 2,900 incidents of violence against minorities have been documented in Bangladesh by independent sources during the tenure of interim government, he noted. “The incidents of violence against minorities in Bangladesh cannot be brushed aside as media exaggeration or dismissed as political violence,” Mr Jaiswal said.
(Manas Dasgupta)