The Hindus are leaving the country in increasing number in recent years because repressions against them has grown during the rule of the Awami League government, said Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday.
Responding to a question, Fakhrul said that the minorities had become vulnerable during the rule of the Awami League because they were subjected to increasing repressions and there was a fierce attempt to capture their properties and to loot their wealth.
Fakhrul said these at a press conference at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office over the recent attack on the Hindus at Sulla in Sunamganj.
The BNP disclosed the findings of its delegation, which visited Sulla on March 20, at the press conference.
Fakhrul said that the Awami League always claimed that it was sincere in keeping communal harmony in the country and ensuring rights of the minority people, but in fact the ruling party had not scrapped the vested property law and had not responded to the justified demands of the minorities.
Fakhrul said that Awami Juba League leaders were behind the attack on minorities at Sulla, but the Awami League general secretary tried to say that the BNP was behind the attack.
A BNP central delegation led by its vicechairman Nitai Roy Chowdhury visited Sulla and talked to the affected Hindus to find out the reasons behind the attack.
Nitai told the press conference said that the affected Hindu people told them that the local ruling party men were behind the attack.
Nitai, demanded the arrest of all the people involved in the attack and exemplary punishment for them.
He also called on the local administration to ensure the safety of the minorities.
Member secretary of Nari O Shishu Odhikar Forum Nipun Roy Chowdhury, who was a member of the delegation, and BNP organising secretary Emran Sleh Prince were present at press conference.
Several hundred people from three villages on March 17 morning carried out a fierce attack on the Hindus at village Naogram of Sulla upazila in Sunamganj, damaging 90 houses and looting their valuables following a Facebook post by a Hindu youth against Hefazat-e-Islam joint secretary general Mamunul Haque.
The incident drew widespread protests and condemnations.
