Dhaka [Bangladesh], December 25 : Bangladeshi journalist Muktadir Rashid called for Dhaka to have "peaceful" relations with New Delhi and other neighbouring countries while criticising the Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, for anti-India sentiments.
Addressing the current violent turmoil in the country, Rashid called it a result of fringe elements wanting to be mainstream.
In an interview with ANI, "I don't want to make it like the way the Islami Chhatra Shibir-backed students wanted to demolish the Indian High Commission in Dhaka. We don't want this kind of relationship. We, even the majority, never expected this kind of thing. It is a fringe element. They wanted to be mainstream. That is a similar pattern we are seeing. We want very peaceful and calm relations with our neighbours, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and the Maldives, because you see Bangladesh is a peaceful country, and they wanted to have in the 1980s just to bring all of our brothers and sisters together on the same platform so that we have equality and cooperation."
Referring to the lynching of Hindu man Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh amid violent protests in the country, Rashid suggested looking at the incident through a humanitarian lens.
"We want the relationship among the neighbours to always be peaceful. There are some mistakes, when I see someone being tortured and set on fire, I feel very shocked, irrespective of any religion, whether it is Buddhist, Christian, Muslim or whoever it is, but we don't want to see it in the sectarian optics, we should see it in humanitarian optics, and only that can survive," he said.
Dipu Das was killed in Bangladesh's Mymensingh district, evoking widespread criticism and again raising questions over the security of minorities in the country.
The incident led to widespread protests in Bangladesh and India. On Wednesday, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal held a bike rally in Vijayawada against mob lynching.
The protesters also burnt an effigy of Bangladesh's interim leader, Mohammad Yunus.
India on Tuesday summoned the Bangladesh High Commissioner, the second time in a week, amid apparent strain in ties over the developments in the neighbouring country. The summons came amid protests in Bangladesh due to the killing of student leader Sharif Osman Hadi and lynching of Dipu Chandra Das in two separate incidents.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's Education Adviser CR Abrar visited the family of Dipu Das on behalf of the Interim Government and expressed sympathy while also giving assurance of support.
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