Yunus meets Bangladeshi Hindus, calls for patience before judging his govt

Reaching out to the distressed Hindu community members at the famous Dhakeshwari Temple here Bangladeshs Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus on Tuesday urged the people to ldquoexercise patiencerdquo before judging his governments roleYunus who took charge as the Chief Advisor of the interim government on August 8 amid ongoing violence and vandalism including against the minorities also said each onersquos rights should be ensured and blamed institutional decay for the predicament that his country has fallen intoThe meeting comes close on the heels of attacks on the minority Hindu population vandalisation of their business and properties and devastation of Hindu temples hours in the violence that ensued for days following the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5Dhakeshwari temple is one of the prominent shakti peethasldquoRights are equal for everyone We are all one people with one right Do not make any distinctions among us Please assist us Exercise patience and later judge what we were able to do and not If we fail then criticise usrdquo Yunus was quoted as saying by The Daily Star newspaperEarlier ahead of the weekend thousands of minority Hindu community members staged massive protest rallies in Bangladeshs capital and the northeastern port city of Chattagram on Friday and Saturday demanding protection amid nationwide vandalism that saw attacks on temples and their households and businessesDemanding special tribunals to expedite trials of those who persecute the minorities allocation of 10 per cent parliamentary seats for the minorities and enactment of a minority protection law among others the Hindu demonstratorsrsquo rally blocked traffic for over three hours at Shahbagh in the central part of Dhaka on SaturdayOn Saturday itself Yunus had condemned attacks on the minority communities in the violencehit nation terming them as ldquoheinousrdquo and had urged the youth to protect all Hindu Christian and BuddhistsMembers of minority communities in Bangladesh faced at least 205 incidents of attacks in 52 districts since the fall of the Sheikh Hasinaled government on August 5 till the weekend according to two Hindu organisations Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad in the countryOn Tuesday after reaching the Dhakeshwari temple Yunus exchanged greetings with the leaders of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad and Mahanagar Sarbajanin Puja Committee as well as officials from the temple management board and devotees The Daily Star saidldquoIn our democratic aspirations we should not be seen as Muslims Hindus or Buddhists but as human beings Our rights should be ensured The root of all problems lies in the decay of institutional arrangements That is why such issues arise Institutional arrangements need to be fixedrdquo Yunus addedProf Yunus was accompanied by Law Adviser Asif Nazrul and Religious Affairs Adviser AFM Khalid HossainPresident Puja Udjapan Parishad Basudeb Dhar its General Secretary Santosh Sharma President of the Sarbajanin Puja Committee Jayanta Kumar Dev General Secretary Tapas Chandra Pal and Presidium Member of the HinduBuddhistChristian Unity Council Kajol Debnath and Joint General Secretary Manindra Kumar Nath were also presentDhar described the meeting with Yunus as ldquocordialrdquo Clad in his trademark kurtapyjama Yunus sat along with his officials and interacted with the Hindu community in the temple premisesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever