B’DESH WON’T COMPROMISE ON HONOUR OF PROPHET: MIN
Rezaul H Laskar
DHAKA: Bangladesh will not compromise on any issue involving the honour of Prophet Mohammed, though the controversy triggered by remarks by two former BJP spokespersons is largely an “external issue”, Bangladesh information minister Hasan Mahmud has said.
The Bangladesh government welcomes the action taken by Indian authorities against the BJP spokespersons and has no intention to “instigate the matter”, Mahmud told a group of visiting Indian journalists late on Saturday.
Mahmud, a senior leader of the ruling Awami League party, was the first member of the government to speak out on the controversy over the remarks against Prophet Mohammed by BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal, since removed by the party.
Delhi Police have registered formal complaints against the spokespersons for allegedly spreading hate.
Muslim-majority Bangladesh stood out for the silence of the country’s government on the issue, especially after Iran, Kuwait and Qatar summoned the Indian envoys to protest and more than a dozen countries, including Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, condemned the remarks.
“We are not compromising [on] the honour of the Prophet,” Mahmud said.
“Wherever [something] happens against the Prophet, we condemn it. But we congratulate the government of India at the same time [for taking] legal action against those who said [something] against Prophet Mohammed.”
He added, “First of all, this is an external issue, this is not an internal issue. This is an issue of India and I don’t think that we have to say many things about this... It has not got much attention here, not like in the Middle East, Indonesia, Pakistan or the Maldives.”