BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed on Friday said that those who persecuted the country’s Hindu community during the 1971 Liberation War have returned in a new form to contest elections, raising concerns about the safety of all citizens in Bangladesh.

Speaking at an interaction meeting with Hindu and Buddhist communities in Bishwas Para, Pekuya, Cox’s Bazar, Salahuddin said, “During the great Liberation War, a religion-based group inflicted the most suffering on our Hindu brothers and sisters. Those who did not believe in independence or opposed it were responsible for this persecution.”

He added that under BNP rule, people of all faiths lived in safety, and the party’s founder, the martyred President Ziaur Rahman, ensured religious freedom for all and recognized everyone residing in Bangladesh as Bangladeshi, regardless of religion. “We do not support ethnic, religious, or racial divisions. We want everyone to live together as Bangladeshis,” he said.

The meeting was chaired by former general secretary of Pekuya Upazila Bishwas Para Puja Udyapan Parishad, Chandamoy Biswas Tilok. Other speakers included Pekuya Upazila BNP president Bahadur Shah, Upazila Jubo Dal convener Kamran Jadid Mukut, Bishwas Para Central Durga Mandir president Shimul Biswas, Upazila Puja Udyapan Front convener Ramesh Biswas, Upazila Puja Udyapan Committee president Suman Biswas, Upazila Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Parishad general secretary Antowai Ching Rakhaine, Barbakia Loknath Mandir managing committee president Ripon Kanti Nath, and Barbakia Sarbojanin Durga Mandir president Paritosh Nath.