Days after India flagged attacks on minorities in Bangladesh “as a matter of grave concern”, Bangladesh on Sunday said that their country has a longstanding tradition of communal harmony, and that the comments do not reflect the facts.
On Friday, the MEA had weighed in on the “unremitting hostilities” against minorities in Bangladesh after two Hindu youths were lynched to death. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said India condemns the December 18 killing of Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh. Das was beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy, and his body was set on fire.
“The unremitting hostilities against the minorities in Bangladesh including Hindus, Christians and Buddhists is a matter of grave concern,” Jaiswal had said, when asked about the killing of another youth in Bangladesh’s Rajbari, Amrit Mondal.
In a statement on Sunday, referring to Jaiswal’s comments, Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “… His comments do not reflect the facts. The Government of Bangladesh categorically rejects any inaccurate, exaggerated, or motivated narratives that misrepresent Bangladesh’s longstanding tradition of communal harmony.”
“… we note that there are systematic attempts to portray the isolated incidents of criminal acts as systemic persecution of the Hindus and maliciously used to propagate anti-Bangladesh sentiments in different parts of India,” the statement said. “We observe a selective and unfair bias in certain quarters, where isolated incidents are amplified, misrepresented and propagated to incite common Indians against Bangladesh…”
Referring to Amrit Mondal, the statement said, “One of the individuals cited by the MEA spokesperson was a listed criminal whose unfortunate death happened when he was committing extortion with his Muslim accomplice, who was later arrested.”
