United Nations. Amid incidents of attacks on the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that he is against any kind of racially based attack or incitement to violence. “It is clear that we want to ensure that the violence that is happening in Bangladesh in recent weeks is controlled. We are definitely against any kind of racially based attack or incitement to violence,” Deputy Spokesperson of the Secretary-General Farhan Haq said here on Thursday.
He was responding to questions on the Secretary-General’s response to attacks on Hindus and other minority communities in Bangladesh. Several Hindu temples, homes and business establishments have been vandalised and at least two Hindu leaders belonging to the Awami League have been killed in the violence that has continued since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on Monday and fled the country to India. As Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as head of the interim government, Haq referred to the UN’s hopes for “an inclusive process of government formation” and said, “We remain hopeful. Any sign of peace restoration is a good thing.”
When asked if Secretary-General Guterres congratulated Yunus or spoke to him on the phone, Haq said Guterres had not spoken to him but Gwyn Lewis, the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, attended the swearing-in ceremony. “Of course, she and the country team are actively working to ensure that the transition on the ground is peaceful,” Haq said. On requests for the UN to be part of the investigation into the killings in Bangladesh in the past few weeks, Haq said the UN would look into what kind of formal request it receives from any new government that is formed.
