Shawdesh Desk:

Bangladesh interim government on Thursday strongly condemned the attack on ethnic minority students.

A statement, issued on the day by the chief adviser’s press office, also read that the government ordered an investigation and two people were arrested in this regard.

The statement read that the government strongly condemned the attack on Wednesday, 15 January, on the peaceful gathering of a group of ethnic minority students in front of NTCB.

‘The government has ordered an investigation into the attack, and two persons have already been arrested in this connection,’ it continued.

‘Other perpetrators are being identified and will soon be arrested. All miscreants will be brought to justice,’ it further read.

The statement continued that – ‘Imbibed in the true spirits of the July mass uprising, the government reiterates in unequivocal terms that there is no place for mob violence, racial hatred, and bigotry in Bangladesh.’

The government warns that anyone involved in activities that harm harmony, peace, and law and order shall face stern actions without discrimination, it added.

More than a dozen, mostly students belonging to different national minority communities, were injured in an attack by another group of students in front of the NCTB Bhaban in the capital on Wednesday over claim and counterclaim on the inclusion of the word ‘Adivasi’ in the textbooks.

Those demonstrating under the banner of Students for Sovereignty, an organisation claimed to be of Dhaka University students, twice attacked the group protesting under the banner of Sangkhubdhho Adivasi Chhatra-Janata in police presence.

Recently the National Curriculum and Textbook Board removed a graffiti carrying the word Adivasi from the back cover of the Bangla grammar book for the Classes of IX and X, following demand from the Students for Sovereignty.

Sangkhubdhho Adivasi Chhatra-Janata (aggrieved indigenous student-people) issued a 24-hour ultimatum to arrest the attackers who demanded the removal of the word and announced to hold countrywide rallies today, protesting at the removal of the word.