Author: Ershadul Huq, Indo-Asian
News Service
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: September 25, 2002
URL: http://in.news.yahoo.com/020925/43/1vldy.html
A U.S. congressional team is here
to investigate reports of attacks on Hindus in this country.
The four-member delegation will
submit a report to the International Affairs Committee of the U.S. Congress
by October 3 in Washington D.C., published reports say.
The team, which arrived here Monday,
will meet Hindus who were allegedly tortured by activists of political
parties in the period following the October elections in which the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP)-led alliance came to power.
The visit comes even as a minister
has accused some Hindu leaders of inciting communal disharmony by asking
Hindus to publicise the attacks on them.
Leaders of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapon
Committee, the apex body for Durga Puja celebrations, had reportedly urged
members of the Hindu community, Bangladesh's largest minority, to speak
out at home and abroad against the atrocities.
State Minister for Water Resources
Goutam Chakrabarty told the official BSS news agency: "The remarks of these
leaders have annoyed members of the Hindu community. It's a suicidal bid
and a conspiracy to destroy communal harmony."
He said these leaders did not represent
the feelings of the entire community.
The Puja Udjapon Committee has decided
to celebrate Durga Puja, the largest Hindu festival here, as usual next
month. But they will hang posters and placards at various festival venues
to protest the oppression of Hindus.
Last year Hindus held low-key Durga
Puja celebrations to protest the wave of attacks that swept the country
in the period immediately after October's polls.
