The government on Saturday said it appears that there was an ulterior motive behind Priya Saha’s absolutely false and concocted stories that were targeted to malign Bangladesh.
“Bangladesh is a beacon of religious freedom and communal harmony, where people of all faiths have been living in peace for ages,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, strongly protesting all the blatant lies told by Priya Saha to US President Donald Trump.
The government also condemned her remarks in the strongest possible terms.
Priya Saha participated in the Second Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom held at the US Department of State in Washington, DC on July 16-18. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen attended the meeting.
Delegates from 106 countries, including about 40 Foreign Ministers, attended the meeting at the invitation of Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State.
The government of Bangladesh would expect that organisers of such a big international event would invite responsible individuals who would objectively contribute to promoting the true spirit and value of religious freedom, reads a media statement.
The humane attitude and generosity of the government of Bangladesh have been commended by the whole world when it decided to temporarily shelter over 1.1 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals, it said.
Priya Saha, one of the organising secretaries of Bangladesh Hindu-Bouddha-Christian Oikya Parishad, was seen telling US President Donald Trump, among other things, that 37 million Hindu, Buddhist and Christian people have been disappeared from Bangladesh.
She also told President Trump that her land has been grabbed by Muslim fundamentalists and sought his help so that Hindu, Buddhist and Christian people can live in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador Earl R Miller, while visiting a Buddhist temple at city’s Merul Badda on Friday afternoon, appreciated Bangladesh’s religious harmony.
Miller, who was sworn in as US Ambassador to Bangladesh on November 13 last year, shared his experience of meeting religious leaders from across the country and praised the religious harmony.
“I now have enough perspective after being here for eight months and traveling so widely to recognise that Bangladesh is doing something remarkable,” he told reporters.
The US envoy also said, “Everywhere I have gone I have received the same message, be it’s from Imam, priest and someone in the temple that no country can succeed unless it works together.”
He said it is the lesson that his country and the world can learn from.
Talking to UNB over phone on Friday, General Secretary of Bangladesh Hindu-Bouddha-Christian Oikya Parishad Rana Dashgupta said he was not aware how Priya Saha went to the USA and reached Trump.
He said she was not among the three persons who represented Oikya Parishad at the ministerial meeting on advancing religious freedom hosted by the US Department of State. “I’ve nothing else to say,” he had said, declining to comment on her allegations.
