Bangladesh assures India, safeguards rights of Hindus

NEW DELHI: Bangladesh, which is witnessing violence against Hindu minority members, has assured India that it is fully committed to safeguarding their rights, maintaining that many of these incidents were not communal in nature.

They also conveyed to India that investigations have been concluded and arrests made in 25 of these incidents and government is now filing charge sheets in many of the remaining cases.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said "Our High Commission in Dhaka closely monitors incidents targeting the religious, socio-economic and political freedom of the minorities in Bangladesh and raises these issues with Bangladeshi authorities appropriately."

He said Bangladesh government has told India that many of the incidents are not communal and were triggered out of disputes.

"The government of Bangladesh has taken into preventive custody over 11,000 persons who are suspected to have links with militant organisations or are believed to be sympathiser of radical Islamic ideology being propounded by those carrying out these attacks," he said.

A Hindu priest was today hacked to death by unidentified machete-wielding assailants, the latest in a string of brutal attacks on minorities and secular activists by Islamists.