Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council Europe Situation of the minorities in Bangladesh First of all I would like to thank the organizers to give us the opportunity to speak of ourselves and express our concerns and put our demands forward. We are here for our existence. Bangladesh is for all irrespective of different cultures & tradition and religion. This is what the spirit of the 1971 meant for. Now we have divisions in ideologically, politically and religiously. As a result a culture of impunity is flourishing with the lawlessness. Islamic militancy is gaining momentum and the ethnic / tribal / religious minorities are facing atrocities. Atrocities gained its peak after the independence in 2001 and it is still going on Trial of war criminals of 1971 lead to the ideological conflict. Rape, murder, force conversion of the minorities are underlined in each and every trial. All the minorities belong to the Government party, Is a general assumption of the opponents. Division in faiths needs no clarification. It is well understood by all, Now a days a new word "Religious Sentiment" is being added. According to Kennedy report 80 percent of the victims are the religious minorities during the liberation war, as because they are targeted first, as a part of ethnic cleansing then came the genocide. No authorities recognized that the persecution and violence against the minorities are going on after the liberation. Now each and every political party recognizes the atrocities in Bangladesh including the Islamic militants. It is because of the great concerns of the international community after the general election. But no one takes the responsibility. The "Blame Game" continues as usual and the same group continues to suffer. The persecution and violence against the minorities are of manifolds and have not come crisis overnight. It can be considered as ethnic cleansing and may be described as follows:  Grabbing of minority properties by individual or groups by force or threat  Large scale eviction of poor minority families and tribal minorities from their ancestral lands  Rape, kidnap and sexual violation of woman belonging to the minority communities Forcing minorities either to convert to Islam or flee from the country   Destruction and desecration of places of worships such as temples, monasteries and churches  Depriving minorities of education, business and professional opportunities  Extraction of money in the form of "infidel security tax"