By IANS
Dhaka : Political discrimination and “attacks” on religious and ethnic minorities continue to be a problem in Bangladesh, a US report has said.
“Hindu, Christian and Buddhist minorities experienced discrimination and sometimes violence… Harassment of Ahmadiyyas continued along with protests demanding that Ahmadiyyas be declared non-Muslims,” the report said.
The report, released by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour Saturday, said protests demanding that Ahmadiyyas be declared non-Muslim and instances of harassment continued sporadically.
While there is the traditional inter-community amity and citizens were generally free to practice the religion of their choice, “government officials, including the police, were often ineffective in upholding law and order and were sometimes slow to assist religious minority victims of harassment and violence”.
However, the government generally acted in an effective manner to protect the Ahmadiyyas and their property, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) news agency said Sunday quoting the report.
The period dealt with is that of the government of Khaleda Zia-led coalition that included a four-party Islamist conglomerate.
“Religion exerted a significant influence on politics, and the government was sensitive to the Islamic consciousness of its political allies and the majority of its citizens,” said the International Religious Freedom Report 2007 in its Bangladesh chapter.
The report noted that “the government and many civil-society leaders stated that violence against religious minorities normally had political or economic motivations and could not be attributed only to religion”.
It cited reports of what is dubbed as societal abuses and discrimination based on religious belief or practice during the period covered by this report.