Religious minorities concerned over polls violence

Leaders of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad have expressed concern over growing pressure and threats targeting religious minorities centring the national election today.

In a statement issued yesterday, Oikya Parishad general secretary Rana Dasgupta accused the Election Commission, administration, and security forces of failing to ensure the safety of religious minority communities.

The statement alleged that some candidates made inciting statements using derogatory language targeting minority communities while electioneering.

Meanwhile, arsonists set fire to a Buddhist temple in Ramu upazila of Cox's Bazar on Friday, it also read.

In Chattogram-8, people from the Hindu community were threatened not to go to polling stations, while in Sunamganj-2, they came under attack from ruling party men who also allegedly destroyed nearly one hectare of cropland, it said.

Citing media reports, the statement also mentioned that minority communities in Jhenidah-1 were threatened by ruling party men to vote for "boat" or face consequences.

Such incidents have reached an alarming level to the extent that if the authorities fail to address the rising tension during and after the election, then the situation will go out of hand, it added.