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| Bangladesh |
| Religion exploiting leaflets ask to vote against non-Muslims |
| 2008-12-15 |
| A vested interest group is distributing three types of leaflets among villagers of Thakurgaon-1 constituency using religious sentiments to apparently persuade Muslim voters to vote against Awami League-led grand alliance candidate Ramesh Chandra Sen. The leaflets—one containing verses from the Quran and their translation, another a parody of a popular song and the other a few short Bangla verses, bear the name of Bangladesh Muslim League presidium member M Shamsul Haque. The leaflet titled "Al-Quraner Bani" (teachings of the Quran) quotes different verses and clearly asks Muslims not to cast votes for a non-Muslim candidate in the December 29 parliamentary elections. The leaflet also says Islam does not accept the idea of secularism, which it says is a complete deviation from Islamic ideology. Another leaflet titled "Voter Panchali" urges people to elect the BNP-led four-party alliance candidate, Mirza Fakhrul Islam. When the leaflets were shown to Thakurgaon district Election Officer Md Saiful Islam, he told The Daily Star that the quotations from the Quran printed in the leaflet are not false. "It is not a violation of electoral rules since no Muslim League candidate is participating in the election from this constituency," he said. Grand alliance candidate Ramesh Chandra Sen, however, claimed it to be a clear violation of the electoral rules as the Election Commission has strictly prohibited the use of religious sentiment in electoral campaigns. "Traditionally, a communal harmony has existed in this area for long. But this type of propaganda might disrupt that harmony," he told The Daily Star. The Awami League submitted a written complaint objecting to such campaign to the district election investigation committee yesterday afternoon, said party leader in the district advocate Altafur Rahman. He also claimed that Shamsul Haque, who has been shown as a presidium member of Bangladesh Muslim League in a leaflet, is actually the present vice-president of Thakurgaon Sadar BNP committee. Shamsul Haque could not be contacted for comments after several attempts. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Thought it said 'exploding', my bad. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-12-15 16:12 |