UK MP Blackman says in Commons debate violence in Bangladesh ‘attempt at ethnic cleansing of Hindus’ – Times of India

TOI correspondent from London: British Tory MP Bob Blackman described the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh as “an attempt at ethnic cleansing” during a debate in the House of Commons on Monday which followed an urgent question.
Blackman said, “Hindus are suffering with their houses being burned, their businesses ransacked. Two further priests were arrested over the weekend, and 63 monks were denied access to the country. This is an attempt at the ethnic cleansing of Hindus from Bangladesh. Will the minister come out and outright condemn this violence?”
Indo-Pacific minister Catherine West, representing the govt, said this had all been top of her agenda when she met Bangladesh interim govt chief adviser Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh in Nov. She said the UK supported the interim govt and was ready to offer advice on law and order.
Scores of MPs stood up and said their constituents were concerned about the safety of Hindus in Bangladesh, with some having family there. They called on the UK govt to take every diplomatic stepto protect Hindus and expressed concern the perpetrators of the violence were not being held to account. One MP asked the minister to raise it at the UN.
The debate followed an urgent question by Labour MP Barry Gardiner on the situation. Gardiner said there had been more than 2,000 incidents of violence since Aug, mostly targeted against Hindus, and the protections for minority religions guaranteed under Bangladesh’s Constitution “appeared to not be being enforced”.
“There are reports of police and army standing by, as more than 20 places of minority Hindu and Sufi worship were vandalised and their worshippers attacked,” he said. “This came to a head on Friday, when extremist groups from the Jamaat-e-Islami party attacked two Hindu temples in Chittagong and conducted a campaign of orchestrated violence against the Hindu population. The situation is clearly on a knife edge.”
Regarding the arrest of Iskcon leader Chinmoy Krishna Das, Gardiner said “people are concerned he has been denied due process, charged with sedition and refused bail, yet none of the individuals who attacked the temples has been apprehended or charged.”
Democratic Unionist Party MP Jim Shannon said over a 16-day period there had been attacks on 69 Hindu temples. The homes of 157 families were attacked, looted, vandalised or set on fire, and nine Hindus lost their lives.