Bangla minister blames BNP, Jamaat for violence

Kolkata:

Bangladesh

information and broadcasting minister Hasan Mahmud on Thursday blamed Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and

Jamaat

supporters for the recent violence in his country and said the Awami League government had exposed people who brought “ignominy” to a nation celebrating the golden jubilee of its independence.

Mahmud’s statement at Kolkata Press Club — where he inaugurated the Bangabandhu media centre as part of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s birth centenary celebrations — came on a day when several BNP supporters were arrested in Bangladesh and over 400 charged with vandalism and rioting at Durga Puja pandals. BNP leaders, however, described the police action as a ploy of the ruling party to malign them.

Over 33,000 Durga Pujas are organised across Bangladesh and only a few pandals witnessed vandalism, which is “unfortunate”, Mahmud said and added: “Within three days, we exposed the criminals... It is clear who did the mischief and placed the Quran in a pandal.”

Emphasising that Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists peacefully coexisted in his country, the minister said the Bangladesh government did not condone such violence. “It is a shame that even today we identify people as Hindus or Muslims, instead of Bengalis,” he said, adding that the masterminds of the violence would be brought to book.

Mahmud recalled how he was attacked by the Jamaat and had a lucky escape. The Jamaat and BNP are trying to create disturbance in Bangladesh, he reiterated.

Later in the day, the minister visited the Bengal assembly and invited Speaker Biman Banerjee to Bangladesh during the jubilee celebrations to commemorate 50 years of Indo-Bangla friendship.

They discussed the economic ties between the two nations. The minister informed that they were working to conserve the ancestral home of late actor Suchitra Sen at Pabna. He said the Bangladesh government had allowed the Hilsa export to Bengal for another 10 days this year.