Leaders of minority organizations have demanded the resignation of Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen for his “presumptuous and untrue” statement on the communal attacks that started during the Durga Puja celebrations last month.
The organizations voiced the demand during a rally jointly arranged by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the Minority Front in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on Friday.
On October 28, the foreign minister issued a statement on the communal attacks that took place across the country. He claimed no one had been raped during the violence, and that not a single temple had been set on fire or destroyed.
Six people have been killed so far in communal violence since the Durga Puja. The foreign minister claimed four of the dead were Muslims who were shot by police when they tried to set fire to Hindu homes.
Of the two Hindus who died, the minister alleged one died a natural death while the other drowned.
Following the statement, protests by the minority community intensified. More than four dozen minority groups including ISKCON and Hindu Law Reform Council condemned the minister’s remarks and demanded his resignation during protests in the capital.
At Friday’s rally, minority community leaders in a declaration said the foreign minister's "untrue and presumptuous" remarks had tarnished Bangladesh's image.
They also said the minister was taking refuge in “lies," without considering the religious sentiment of religious and ethnic minorities, especially the Hindu community.
Manindra Kumar Nath, joint general secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, said the statements made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader in the aftermath of the attacks drew attention to the plight of minorities, while the foreign minister’s statement accomplished the opposite.
Nimchandra Bhowmik, one of the presidents of the Unity Council, described the foreign minister’s statement as irresponsible.
“He has tried to cover up the truth with lies,” Bhowmik said, demanding swift punishment for the perpetrators of the attacks.
Unity Council leader Subrata Chowdhury said that what the foreign minister had said was not beyond the thoughts of policy makers.
After the minority community leaders delivered their statements, they led a procession starting from the National Press Club to the Matsya Bhaban intersection.
