"Protect Minorities In Violence-Hit Bangladesh": Mamata Banerjee To Centre

The Centre must give protection to minorities in violence-hit Bangladesh, and bring back "those willing to return", urged Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday.

New Delhi has accused Bangladesh of failing to adequately protect its minority Hindu community from reprisal attacks since the August overthrow of ex-premier Sheikh Hasina in a student-led revolution. 

The arrest of a prominent Hindu priest in Bangladesh on sedition charges last month further added to tensions between the two south Asian neighbours.

"We are also demanding protection for everyone. We want the Government of India to act. What do men by act? Provide security to people. Those who want to return, arrangements must be made for them to return," said Ms Banerjee.

"Not a single Indo-Bangladesh border has been shut. If it had been shut, we would have had instructions. We have no such instruction. This is a matter totally under the Government of India and we want them to protect minorities," she said.

The Chief Minister highlighted that a lot of people are coming through the border, which has not been closed.

"A lot of people are coming through the border. In some places the BSF is stopping and in some places, they are not stopping. Those who are coming through civil aviation, in planes, they are coming. Planes are running. Trains are running. People are coming. Those who have visas and passports are coming. It hasn't been shut," she said.

On Monday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, in a meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Adviser Mohammad Touhid Hossain, conveyed that the attacks on religious institutions and places of worship are "regrettable".

Amid attacks and threats to Hindus in Dhaka, a minor girl, whose family are ISKCON devotees, has fled to India to save her life after threats from radical elements.

The minor was intercepted by the Border Security Force or BSF on Tuesday night from Fatehpur area of Chopra block in Uttar Dinajpur district. She has been sent to a shelter home.

Sources say, the minor and her family, residents of Panchagarh district of Bangladesh, are devotees of ISKCON.

Panchagarh is situated in Rangpur division an area where there have been attacks on minorities, especially the Hindu community.

The minor, say sources, was forced to flee to India and her intention was to take refuge at a relative's house in Belacoba in Jalpaiguri district in Bengal.

A relative of the minor girl who fled from Bangladesh to India, told reporters, "One of my relatives, my distant granddaughter, knows my phone number and that is why I am here at the police station. On that side, they are ISKCON devotees and that is why they were tortured. They threatened to kidnap her and fearing that she came here. They had taken my phone number for this purpose. That is why I have come to meet her."

"She told me that they told her that they would kidnap her because she is an ISKCON devotee and that was her only fault. She said they had come to her home to threaten her. They stay in Panchagarh in Bangladesh," the relative added.

Hindus constitute about 8 per cent of Bangladesh's 170 million population.