AGENCY
LONDON: The British government continues to monitor the situation in Bangladesh as members of Parliament raised concerns over recent attacks on the minority Hindu community there and arrest of religious leaders, a senior minister said here. During an urgent question tabled in the House of Commons by Labour MP Barry Gardiner on Monday, the Foreign Office Minister in charge of the Indo-Pacific, Catherine West said that she had been given assurances by the interim government in Bangladesh that support was available for minority communities during her visit to Bangladesh last month.
She stressed that the UK was one of the first countries with ministerial support to arrive in Dhaka to speak with Chief Adviser Professor Yunus and be “vocal” in support of minorities.
“We are aware of the statement of concern from the Indian government following the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das, a well-known Hindu leader, on sedition charges. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) desk is closely monitoring those developments,” said West.
“The UK government will continue to monitor the situation, including making representations from this House, and will engage with the interim government in Bangladesh on the importance of freedom of religion or belief specifically as it affects the Hindu community,” she said.
Tension between India and Bangladesh has been simmering since August 5, when deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India. The situation aggravated further with Das’ arrest last week. The Hindu community in Bangladesh has regularly faced attacks on its members and places of worship during the widespread protests against Hasina’s Awami League-led government over a controversial job quota system.
The attacks have continued even after Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate, took over as the Chief Adviser of the interim government on August 8. Gardiner, MP for Brent West in London with a large British Hindu population, described the situation as being “clearly on a knife edge” and raised concerns on behalf of the “large diaspora populations in the UK and large Hindu communities with strong links to the community in Bangladesh”.
The shadow foreign secretary, Conservative MP Priti Patel, noted that the degree of escalation in the violence is “deeply, deeply concerning”.