Take immediate steps to stop attacks on all Bangladeshi citizens, including minority groups, and restore normalcy at the earliest, more than 50 eminent Bengali intellectuals, mainly from West Bengal, have appealed to Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is slated to play a key role in the interim government of Bangladesh, in a letter.
The appeal has been addressed to both the administration and the common people of Bangladesh.
The signatories of the appeal include former vice-chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University Pabitra Sarkar, who has been associated with Bangladesh for several years, retired Supreme Court judge Asok Ganguly, film personalities Aparna Sen and Kaushik Sen, journalist and writer Anirban Chattopadhyay, former sheriff of Kolkata Dulal Bose, cardiac surgeon Kunal Sarkar, former vice-chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University Sabyasachi Basu Roychoudhury and former vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University Siddhartha Datta.
“We have been learning from media sources that attacks are being carried out on religious minorities at various places in Bangladesh. This needs to be stopped. However, we also feel assured with the information that religious majorities are also protecting the minorities at several points; but at the end of the day, the administration has to take the responsibility to provide holistic protection,” reads the letter written in Bengali.
“The people of Bangladesh will decide the kind of political and administrative leadership to reign in the country, but we appeal to both the current administration and also to the common people of Bangladesh, particularly the students who have brought about this change through the anti-quota and anti-discrimination movement to ensure the safety and security of each Bangladeshi citizen irrespective of religion, political affinity and profession,” the letter adds.
The letter points out that the eminent personalities, many of whom have deep-rooted connections with Bangladesh and have families and friends in Bangladesh, “… are deeply concerned with the present developments in Bangladesh”. “Bangladesh is not just a neighbouring country to the people of West Bengal in terms of location, but also a neighbour at heart, as we share language, culture and history,” reads the letter .
“This initiative has been taken as we could see that Bangladesh has been on the boil and also many of us have been receiving calls from Bangladeshi friends from all over the world, including Bangladesh, on the deteriorating situation,” said Naba Datta, one of the coordinators behind the initiative.
“It has been collectively felt that we should express our solidarity with the affected people of Bangladesh including the students, both during the anti-quota and anti-discrimination movement and as well as after Sheikh Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and left the country,” said another coordinator behind the initiative.
Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus
“We have already sent the letter to offices of the Bangladesh President and Muhammad Yunus as well as to the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission office in Kolkata. We will soon send the same to key civil society representatives in Bangladesh,” he said.
“It is an important initiative and we expect the Bangladeshi authorities to take note and act,” said one of the signatories.
