Anti-minority laws to be repealed: Hasina

Bangladesh will repeal all laws discriminatory to minority communities, including indigenous people, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

Hindus and Buddhist tribals constitute the two largest minority communities in the Muslim majority state, which has seen surge in Islamist extremists seeking to convert Bangladesh into a fundamentalist nation.

"The present government believes in peace and prosperity of the mass people, freedom of all religions and equal rights of people of all walks of life," Hasina was quoted as saying by The Daily Star newspaper on Thursday.

Talking to Gerard Valin, Vice-Admiral of French Navy and Commander of the Joint Forces in the Indian Ocean region, the premier emphasised on the importance of uninterrupted flow of democracy as "without democracy a nation cannot attain development," the United News of Bangladesh reported.

In regard to the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), the premier told the visiting French military delegation yesterday that the Awami League-led alliance is pledged to fully implement the CHT peace treaty, signed during her previous tenure.

She stressed that the last Awami League (AL) government had been successful in restoring peace in the hill districts through political process.

Gerard praised the government's effort towards a anti-terrorism taskforce on a regional basis to combat the menace in the South Asian region, the report said.