‘Persecutors of Hindus in 1971 back in polls’: Says Salahuddin

BNP Standing Committee Member Salahuddin Ahmed yesterday said those who persecuted the country’s Hindu community during the Liberation War have returned in a new form to contest elections, raising concerns about the safety of all citizens in Bangladesh.

He made the remarks at an interaction meeting with members of the Hindu and Buddhist communities in Bishwas Para of Pekua upazila in Cox’s Bazar.

“During the Liberation War, a religion-based group inflicted the most suffering on our Hindu brothers and sisters. Those who did not believe in independence or opposed it were responsible for this persecution,” Salahuddin said.

He claimed that under BNP rule, people of all faiths lived in safety, adding that the party’s founder, the martyred President Ziaur Rahman, ensured religious freedom for all and recognised everyone living in Bangladesh as Bangladeshi, regardless of religion.

“We do not support ethnic, religious or racial divisions. We want everyone to live together as Bangladeshis,” he said.

The meeting was chaired by Chandamoy Biswas Tilok, former general secretary of the Pekua upazila Bishwas Para Puja Udjapon Parishad.