People of all faiths must enjoy equal rights: PM

Stressing the importance of upholding the country’s non-communal spirit, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said all the minority communities, including the Hindus, will live in Bangladesh enjoying their equal rights.

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“You (minorities) will live in the country enjoying your equal rights. We’ve earned our independence shedding blood… everyone will enjoy his or her rights equally in this independent country,” she said while visiting Puja Mandops at Dhakeshwari National Mandir and Ramkrishna Mission.

Hasina said the government wants to create an atmosphere in the country where all people will celebrate each and every religious festival together. “We’re going to that end and we’ll surely create that,” she said.

The Prime Minister said that the people of this country are non-communal and broad-minded ones. “We all are human being and we treat each other with that spirit. So, we all will work together to build the country as we had fought together during the Liberation War in 1971.”

Terming that the people of all religions now celebrate their religious festivals in the country without fear, she said that all people are enjoying equal rights in the country.

Citing a Sura from the holy Quran, she said there is no way in Islam to treat people of other religions in a different way. “And the same thing is also there in other religions. People are above everything in all religions,” she said.

The premier said her government wants to establish Bangladesh as a peaceful place in South Asia where the people of all religions will live together enjoying equal rights.

To develop Bangladesh, Hasina said, communal harmony and democracy will have to be established, and people must enjoy their voting and cultural rights apart from their economic emancipation.

Hasina said the present government never believes in communalism, will never do either. “We believe in non-communalism and we want to build the country based on that spirit.”

The premier said Bangladesh is very much unique in the world when it comes to communal harmony where all people participate in the religious festivals of all religions.

She mentioned that this year some 28,000 Puja Mandops have been set up across the country and the government has ensured foolproof security everywhere.