"Worshipers who want to perform Durga Puja have opportunity to do so": Bangladesh Foreign Affairs advisor

By Masud Karim
Dhaka [Bangladesh], October 1 : Bangladesh Government's foreign affairs advisor, Mohammed Touhid Hossain has said that the worshipers who want to perform Durga Puja in Bangladesh "have the opportunity to do so," adding that Durga Puja has been performed in the country for ages.
The statement from Touhid comes at a time when the political situation in Bangladesh remains fluid. He underlined that there have been no instances when Durga Puja was not held in the country.
On being asked if Durga Puja will be celebrated in the country, the Foreign Affairs Adviser of Bangladesh said, "This is quite strange. There could be a fringe that may not like Durga Puja. Durga Puja has been performed in this country for ages and there have been no instances when Durga Puja was not held."
"Certainly, the worshipers who want to perform Durga Puja, they have the opportunity to do so. There should be no doubt about this," he told ANI.
A month ago, a student-led movement ousted Bangladesh's Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, after weeks of protests and clashes that killed over 600 people. Sheikh Hasina fled to India on August 5 and interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus was formed.
The minority groups in Bangladesh alleged Hindus were attacked immediately after the political changes, but the interim government says those were not religious but political in nature.
Regarding the incidents of attacks on minorities and Hindus in Bangladesh, Touhid said, "Immediately after the departure of Sheikh Hasina, there was a vacuum in the administrations and there was also a problem of policing because police had been placed against the young generation so when Sheikh Hasina departed, police were not their normal duty. At that time tensions and sentiments ran very high and some incidents were there but putting it as anti-Hindu agitation or anti-Hindu action would be utterly wrong. The violence did take place against mostly Awami League loyalists."
He further clarified, saying that the violence did not take place in Bangladesh on the basis of whether someone was Hindu or Muslim.
"In that moment of agitation, some violence took place but that was not on the basis of whether someone was Hindu or Muslim...If you count by religion, more Muslims were attacked at that time than Hindus, it was because some sort of agitation against the Awami League supporters was taking place which we had been able to curtail immediately after taking the government," he said.
"I don't think there is any complaint or such action at this moment in this country," Touhid added.
Touhid, also spoke about his recent meeting with External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
"I think my conversation with Dr Jaishankar was constructive. It seems to me that both India and Bangladesh want to have good working relations with each other. And Dr. Jaishankar recognised that. I would put it very simply; we both had free and fair discussions and we both recognised that we must have good working relations with each other," the Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser said late on Monday.
"The issue of Sheikh Hasina was not discussed with him," he further added.