Ansar Ahmed Ullah, an activist with the Nirmul Committee (International Forum for Secular Bangladesh), based in East London, spoke to Solidarity about the conflicts between secularists and Islamists in Bengali communities.
The issues facing Bengali people are the same social issues faced by any other community, including the white working class, living in a deprived inner-city area. Bengalis suffer from high unemployment, underachievement in education, bad health, and overcrowded housing conditions.
The government move to enact a law to form the Election Commission (EC) without the opinion and evaluation of other stakeholders has faced criticism from the opposition political parties. Ruling Awami League's major political rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has trashed the proposed law saying it will not yield any positive outcome as the party thinks it will only