Hyderabad: Former Union home secretary K. Padmanabhaiah demanded the immediate implementation of the uniform civil code (UCC), given the persecution of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh and to avoid such conditions in the future.
He criticsed the US and European nations, saying they raised a hue and cry about human rights violations in selective countries and that they had no right to preach human rights as was evident with their silence about the condition of the minorities in Bangladesh.
Addressing a round-table conference organised by the Telangana chapter of the Human Rights Association, Padmanabhaiah said, “Though it claims to be following a secular Constitution, Bangladesh has miserably failed to protect the rights of minority Hindus, who have reduced from 30 per cent to less than eight per cent now,” he explained.
The meeting, attended by former bureaucrats, former military officers and legal experts, adopted a resolution, demanding that India to use diplomatic channels to bring international pressure on Bangladesh. It also demanded the withdrawal of the Nobel peace prize to acting Bangladesh President Muhammad Yunus.
The meeting condemned the ethnic cleansing in Bangladesh by the government, army and other agencies. It appealed to international organisations to put pressure on Bangladesh to restore normalcy and release all arrested Hindus.
Putting forth the four-month-long fact-finding committee's observations in Bangladesh, prominent lawyer Monika Arora said that not just poor and weaker sections of Hindus are under attack, even Hindu lawyers, doctors, professors and businessmen are becoming victims.
Stating that the that even long-time neighbours were attacking Hindus, Monika said that Muslims had been forcefully looting Hindus and collecting Bangladeshi Taka like Jijiya tax. She said that their study found active Pakistani support for the terrorists of Jamaat-e-Islami, which was banned till recently. The study also found the supply of arms to terror groups from Pakistan.
Pragna Bharathi chairman Hanuman Chowdhry demanded the exchange of population. Stating that Dr B.R. Amedkar proposed this idea during India’s partition, Chowdhary said India must send an equal number of Muslims from neighbouring areas to Bangladesh in exchange for Hindus migrating to India. He pointed out that Bulgaria has done a similar exchange of population in the past.
Former CBI joint director J.D. Laxminarayana expressed shock over the comments by Bangladesh foreign secretary Jashim Uddin and some BNP leaders who have been demanding the merger of some parts from Bengal, Bihar and Odisha in Bangladesh. The Indian government should seriously make note of these developments, he cautioned.
