Bangladeshi People Call on Muslim Countries to Cut Ties with India
They urged Muslim-majority nations to cut off diplomatic ties with India and boycott its products unless it punishes two governing party officials for the insulting comments.
The protesters also criticized Bangladesh’s government for not publicly criticizing the comments.
They marched after Friday prayers through streets near the main Baitul Mukarram Mosque in downtown Dhaka. Many chanted slogans against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid growing anger in Bangladesh and other Muslim-majority nations since last week, when two officials of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party made the insulting comments.
Modi’s party has suspended one official and expelled the other, while saying it denounces insults of religious figures, but the Bangladeshi protesters said the actions were not enough.
They urged Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to make an official statement condemning Modi’s government in Parliament, which is holding its budgetary session.
Hasina has maintained a warm relationship with India for more than a decade despite growing anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 160 million people. India is Bangladesh’s neighbor and a major trading partner.
Source: AP
