NEW DELHI: Expressing concern over targeting of religious minorities in Bangladesh, the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday urged the central government to ask the United Nations to immediately dispatch peacekeeping forces to the neighbouring country.
TMC's Sudip Bandyopadhyay raised the issue during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha. He said minorities, including Hindus, are being tortured and killed in Bangladesh and urged the Centre to appeal to the UN to immediately send peacekeeping forces to the country.
Being an immediate neighbour of Bangladesh, West Bengal is directly affected by the happenings there. In the past too, there had been an influx of refugees, he said.
Bandyopadhyay said the government has so far maintained silence on the issue and asked External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to apprise the House of the latest developments in the matter.
On Monday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had called for UN peacekeeping deployment in Bangladesh amid escalating violence. Addressing the state assembly, she condemned the attacks and urged PM Modi and EAM Jaishankar to engage with Bangladesh on the issue.
Notably, Hindus constitute about 8 percent of Bangladesh's population of 170 million.
Reportedly, there have been more than 200 attacks on Hindus in 50 districts of Bangladesh since the fall of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government on August 5.