Minority organisations hold protests in Bangladesh, demand rebuilding of temple in Khilkhet

The protest was organised to condemn "the ongoing violence against religious and ethnic minorities". In Dhaka's Khilkhet area, the Khilkhet Sarbajanin Durga Temple was demolished with a bulldozer. This happened after communal forces made demands to a government institution. In Lalmonirhat, a low-income family's father, Paresh Chandra Shil (69), and son, Bishnu Chandra Shil (35), were beaten and handed over to the police on the false charge of "religious defamation."

From the protest, the organisations made strong demands to the government for immediate action. They called for the immediate rebuilding of the temple in Khilkhet, the formation of an investigation committee to identify and punish those responsible for the demolition, the immediate release of Paresh Chandra Shil, Bishnu Chandra Shil, and others who were unjustly arrested in Lalmonirhat, and urgent measures to stop the ongoing persecution of religious and ethnic minorities.

The speakers emphasised that an inclusive, secular Bangladesh was created in 1971 through the Liberation War. However, they stated that communal forces, both domestic and foreign, are now using the interim government as a cover to persecute religious and ethnic minorities. This includes looting their homes, vandalising places of worship, attacking them on false religious grounds, and filing lawsuits against minority leaders across the country. They called this a major challenge to communal harmony and urged all progressive, non-communal social, political and cultural groups to unite against these forces.

The central protest in front of the Dhaka Press Club was chaired by Nim Chandra Bhowmik, a prominent president of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, and moderated by joint general secretary Advocate Shyamal Kumar Ray.

After the rally, a protest march paraded through various city streets, chanting slogans before concluding at the Press Club. (ANI)