The United People's Democratic Front has announced programmes against the move to ignore ethnic and linguistic minorities in the Constitution (15th Amendment) Bill 2011, retaining state religion and other contradictory provisions.
The party will hoist red flags and bring out a procession carrying red flags on June 30, demonstrations in district and upazila headquarters on July 3, form a human chain on July 4 and hold a signature campaign in June 29–July 5.
The party's president Prasit Bikash Khisha in a statement on Tuesday said the ethnic and linguistic minorities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and elsewhere in the country would not accept the contradictory amendment moves. 'None of our ancestors were Bengali. We have our own national identity and we want its constitutional recognition,' he said.
'We will not accept any imposed identity instead of our national identity. It is our basic right,' he added.
The UPDF raised six objections to the constitution amendment bill. It found that retention of state religion and Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim in the constitution and reintroduction of secularism totally contradictory. 'The bill has proposed to make people of other religions second-class citizens and it is a discriminatory move,' the party said.
The party said that the bill has denied the existence of all other people in Bangladesh but the Bengalis. It also said that the amendment bill fully denies the contributions of national minorities to the war of independence.
Source : New Age
