Photo-Collected.
Special Correspondent //

Shafiqul Alam, Press Secretary to the Prime Minister, said Bangladesh’s minority issues have been unfairly portrayed in international media and top parliamentary hearings in influential countries. He called on secular newspapers and international human rights organizations to investigate alleged cases of religious violence in Bangladesh.

He said in a statement posted on his verified Facebook account, “When Netra News published the report on the post-revolutionary attacks on the Hindu community by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad, I expected the Oikya Parishad to issue a statement on the matter.” Khabar BSS

He also said, “Netra News is a leading investigative website that has earned a reputation for reporting on major corruption and human rights violations in Bangladesh.”

The press secretary noted that the Netra News report found that almost all of the nine Hindu deaths that the Minority Parishad reported were linked to political, personal or other reasons, which were not communal violence.

He said, “We had hoped that the Oikya Parishad would respond to the Netra News report, as it raised serious questions about the Parishad’s data collection and reporting methods.”

He also said that the Oikya Parishad had published another controversial report on attacks on minorities in Bangladesh in July this year.

Shafiqul Alam said, “They said that at least 45 minorities (mostly Hindus) were killed in the 2023-24 fiscal year (which began on July 1, 2023). Again, the report was published on the front and back pages of Bangladeshi newspapers. Despite serious questions about the veracity of such claims by the Oikya Parishad, no media outlet has challenged it.”

He said that according to the country’s largest human rights organization, the Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), no one was killed in anti-minority violence in 2023 and only two people have been killed this year (January to October).

ASK is a secular group, which has been led for years by a convicted Awami League member. Its current chairman is human rights lawyer ZI Khan Panna, who has told local media that he would be interested in defending the genocide suspect Sheikh Hasina at trial.

Shafiqul Alam said the Oikya Parishad reports have far-reaching implications. Recently, a British MP cited the Oikya Parishad report while speaking about attacks on minorities in Bangladesh.

He said that the report on post-revolutionary attacks on Hindus has been viewed more than 11 million times on social media.

He added, “To our knowledge, powerful and wealthy Hindu American groups, Indian national and regional newspapers and top Indian analysts have cited this report to highlight the plight of minorities in Bangladesh. Experts say that Oikya Parishad reports are the biggest source of disinformation about anti-minority violence.”

Shafiqul Alam added, “Violence against minorities occurs in Bangladesh. We are not yet a model country in terms of communal harmony. Religiously offensive Facebook posts also cause violence. Some marginalized groups and individuals often spread hatred against minorities.”

He said that in recent weeks, there have been major efforts by the interim government, political, religious and civil society leaders to keep people calm during religious incidents. Some of them have shown remarkable political maturity in these incidents.

However, he claimed that the reports of the Unity Council have deliberately exaggerated the incidents of violence against minorities.

The press secretary said, “We hope that leading secular and liberal newspapers will conduct their own investigations into the alleged incidents of violence against minorities. We hope that international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, will also conduct similar investigations.”

He noted, “Human Rights Watch conducted an excellent investigation into the massacre of Hefazat activists in 2013. I hope they will conduct a similar investigation here.”

He noted that if the government works to refute these rumors, there may be a skeptical view of its reports.