A group of prominent 192 Bangladeshi Americans said that a recent letter from six US congressmen to President Joe Biden demanding sanction against the Bangladesh government contains false and misleading information.
“The statement also contains incorrect information about the persecution of the Christian population in Bangladesh under the current government,” they said in a press release issued on Wednesday.
The statement in the letter, "Since Sheikh Hasina's rise to power, the Hindu population has been
halved," is categorically false and hides the real reasons behind the Hindu persecution in
Bangladesh, they said.
In particular, the statement ignores the October 2001 post-parliamentary election violence unleashed against the Hindus by the victor, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islam led coalition, the statement said.
“We, the undersigned Bangladeshi Americans, request the Congressmen to withdraw the false information from the letter. The wrong information would not only undermine the credibility of the Congressmen's stance on Bangladesh minority rights but also jeopardize the security and safety of the undersigned Bangladeshi Americans. The worst, all the false statements would exacerbate the plights of minorities in Bangladesh,” the statement reads.
Noted Bangladeshi Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist leaders rejected both claims as categorically false.
They also indicated that false claims hide the real culprits behind minority persecution in Bangladesh.
The President of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad, Rana Dasgupta, said that the Congressmen's claim of halving the Hindu population under Sheikh Hasina's rule is a travesty of truth.
He indicated that certain vested groups responsible for minority persecution might also be trying to win the 2024 Bangladesh election by feeding wrong information to US lawmakers.
The Cardinal Archbishop Patrick D'Rozario also rejected the Congressmen's claim that the "government has persecuted Bangladesh minority Christian population' as false.
Instead, the cardinal emphasized that the current government has always supported and been with the Christian community.
“We understand that the US elected representatives sign many statements. But false information in Congressmen's letter to President Biden is concerning and detrimental to the Bangladeshi minority communities,” they mentioned.
They also provided evidence from Bangladesh census data to reject the claim in Congressmen's letter to the US President.
The signatories include-Dr Nuran Nabi, Councilman, NJ, Prof ABM Nasir, Professor, NC, Abu Ahmed Musa, Councilman, MI, Rana Hasan Mahmud, Engineer, CA, Dr Ziauddin Ahmed, Professor, PA, Shikrithy Barua, IT Engineer, NY, Abul Khan, State Representative, NH, Mahbubul Alam Taiyab, Milborne City Mayor, NH, Nurul Hassan, Councilman, Milborne City, NH, Dr Sufian A Khandakar, Scientist, Dr Ashraf Ahmed, Scientist and Writer and Dr Joti Prakash Dutta, Writer, FL.