ISKCON ban not on govt agenda, say advisers

Apparently brushing aside the idea of banning ISKCON, a pro-Hindu religious platform, two advisers of the government on Thursday said there were no discussions inside the government to ban the organisation.
"There may be demand for it but we think an organisation should not take responsibility of the misdeeds of an individual," said Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan while responding to a question about whether ISKCON would be banned or not.
She was briefing the press on the meeting of the Council of Advisers.
She also pointed out that the organisation itself had announced that it had no relation with Chinmoy, an ISKCON follower.
When asked on what charge, Mr Chinmoy was arrested, Adviser Mahfuz Alam, who was also present in the briefing said that Mr Chinmoy was arrested in connection with a case and details could be revealed after completion of the probe. Ms Rizwana said that religious harmony was engrained in the values of people of Bangladesh and no conspiracy or provocation could harm the values.
She urged the people to remain alert to such provocations.
Mahfuz Alam said that leaders of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami met the Chief Adviser on Wednesday and Thursday respectively and they made some specific proposals to resist the evil designs of conspirators to harm the independence and sovereignty of the country.
Responding to a question, Ms Rizwana said that though the cabinet discussed the issue of security threat against the coordinators of the July Revolution but no decision was taken in this regard.
She urged all not to take destructive path to fulfill any demand.
Earlier, in the evening a delegation of Jamaat-e-Islami, led by its Ameer Shafiqur Rahman, called on Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus at the state guesthouse Jamuna.
After the meeting the Jamaat chief told the press that their party wanted elections after completion of minimum reforms.
He also urged the government to take action against those engaged in anti-state activities.

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