Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has sought cooperation of the religious leaders in receiving accurate information if any attack on minorities takes place in Bangladesh.
"I have asked you to join (Thursday's dialogue) to know how information could be gleaned in a safer way so that the information providers do not fall in trouble," he said while delivering his opening remarks for the faith leaders of Bangladesh at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital on Thursday afternoon.
"We are not enemies to each other though we have differences of opinion," Chief Adviser Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus also said.
The Chief Adviser said, "We're a family. We'll have different opinions, different religions and different cultures, but we're the members of the same family. Despite we've a lot of differences, we're not enemies to each other. We're Bangladeshis, we're the members of same family."
Dr Yunus said: "After taking oath, we heard that minorities were facing repression. It made me very upset. Instantly, I went to the Dhakeshwari Temple and stated there that we were the members of a same family. We've one thing is clear which is we've equal rights to speak, equal rights to religions, equal rights to work. It comes from our constitution. We heard that the minorities were still being persecuted. So, I have seated again with all to seek a suggestion to overcome this problem."
While referring to his visit to Dhakeswari Temple on the occasion of Durga Puja, the Chief Adviser said Durga Puja was celebrated with festivity in the country while people from all strata joined it, turning the event into a national festival.
Now, the issue of attacks on minorities has come up again and the foreign media are publishing news on it, he said, adding that there is a gap of information between the reality and the news published by foreign media.
"We want to know the accurate information and want to establish the process of getting the information," he added.
Noting that as citizens, all the people of the country have equal rights, Prof Yunus said the responsibility of the state is to ensure the people's rights guaranteed by the constitution.
He said if any incident of attack on minorities takes place in the country, information must be collected immediately on such incidents and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.
The chief adviser stressed taking measures to create an environment to prevent such incidents and ensuring immediate remedy for victims.
"I think most of the people of Bangladesh agree on what I have said," he added.
Leaders of the Muslim, the Hindu, the Christian and the Buddhist communities joined the dialogue.
END/SZA
