'Souhardyer Bangladesh' Places 10 Demands Including Making Forcible Cutting of Hair and Beard a Punishable Offence

'Souhardyer Bangladesh' has demanded that attacks, insults, the forcible cutting of hair and beard, and mental persecution because of religious symbols, clothing and identity be treated as punishable offences.

The organization also called for impartial investigations and exemplary trials for killings, torture and social persecution committed because of religious identity, belief and disbelief.

The demands were placed on Wednesday at a press conference titled 'Programme to Resist Extremism in the Name of Religion' at the Abdus Salam Hall of the National Press Club. Pir Hasan Nuri Sureshwari Dipu of Sureshwar Darbar Sharif presented the 10-point demands in a written statement.

The demands include stopping attacks on places of worship, shrines, temples, darbars, cultural institutions, educational institutions and residential areas, and providing state compensation and rehabilitation to individuals, families and institutions damaged in past attacks.

The demands also call for strict action against child abuse, forced sexual abuse and rape in all educational institutions including madrasas. They urge that no unreasonable bans be imposed, on security grounds, on religious events, urs, fairs, pujas and cultural gatherings.

The statement demands protection of the right of Baul-Fakirs, Sufis, Hindu saints and followers of various folk religious and spiritual traditions to practise peacefully. It also demands security for women and children and minority communities, an end to violence against women, sexual harassment, child marriage and workplace abuse, and effective measures for women workers' safety, labor rights and complaint redress.

Alongside preserving the heritage of historic Sufi shrines and khanqahs, the demands include reassessing the property rights of those harmed by laws on vested and enemy property, and reviewing the cases of people arrested in the movement for the rights of the Sanatani community to release the innocent.

At the press conference, Abdullah Al Kafi, general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), said extremist communal forces are creating frenzied mobs using the name 'Tawhidi Janata' and spreading violence for political purposes.

Kafi cited several incidents in his speech: Wahiduzzaman Shamim was beaten to death by a mob in Satkhira, Dipu Chandra Das was hanged from a tree and burned in Bhaluka, a pir was exhumed from his grave and burned because of a difference of tariqa, and a time bomb was planted at Lalon's fair to create panic and shut the fair down. In his view, an extremist communal force is trying to seize power in this way, and resistance must be built against the situation.

Bhikkhu Sunandapriya, general secretary of the Bangladesh Buddhist Federation, said: 'I want a Bangladesh of harmony, a Bangladesh of peace.' Representatives of various religious and social organizations, including Christian community representative Nirmal Rozario, Allama Hanif Nuri of Nure Haq Darbar Sharif and Santosh Chandra Das of the World Hindu Federation, also spoke at the press conference.

If the demands are not implemented quickly, 'Souhardyer Bangladesh' will submit memorandums to every district commissioner in the country from 2 to 5 November. If the government still takes no steps, it will hold a human chain and protest march on 13 November, and finally a long march from Shaheed Minar to Mymensingh on 20 November, the organization announced.