'People bothered about atrocities in Palestine should...': Taslima Nasreen

A life-long rebel, Bangladeshi poet Taslima Nasreen, believes that those of her compatriots who are bothered about atrocities against Palestinians should also be equally bothered about the plight of minorities in their own country. "However, I would like to point out that if my countrymen are so concerned about atrocities and the stream of refugees created by attacks in Palestine, then their conscience should also be disturbed when minorities in Bangladesh are attacked even today and many are forced to leave their lands to become refugees elsewhere." "On the one hand, Bangladesh’s per capita income is going up and spanking new infrastructure is coming up, on the other Qaumi Madrasas, which teach kids fundamentalism, are being encouraged," she alleged. However, critics like Nasreen view the Hefazat’s prominence with alarm as, over the years, the government has conceded to key orthodox Islamist demands – including removal of stories and poems by secular and non-Muslim writers from textbooks, removal of the statue of Lady Justice in front of the country’s Supreme Court, and recognition to a degree by Qaumi Madrasas controlled by the organisation as equal to a master’s degree. Speaking of the forthcoming elections to Dhaka’s parliament, she claimed, "Elections are really not elections in Bangladesh," echoing concerns voiced in the West over the quality of elections in her home country.