https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/07/a_brave_soldier_in_the_fight_for_minority_rights_in_bangladesh.html
On July 17th, President Trump met with more than two dozen survivors of religious conflicts, including victims from Iraq, Tibet, China and Bangladesh. Several individuals stepped forward at the Second Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom to tell their stories in hopes of informing him and gaining a commitment for intervention.
Among them was Priya Saha, an officer with the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC), who was determined to obtain Trump’s assistance with the dire situation faced by minorities in her country. She testified that since Bangladesh became independent in 1972 and Islam was declared the state religion five years later, non-Muslims have had their land confiscated and, among other atrocities, have been raped and murdered. Millions of people have disappeared or have fled the country, she said.
As a result of her testimony, the government threatened Saha with sedition charges, angry mobs demonstrated outside her home, she and her family have been targeted on social media and she was expelled from the council. All this occurred in a Muslim country which claims to observe religious freedoms and declares that all faiths live in harmony.
As the former organization secretary for the non-profit BHBCUC, Saha is well-versed in the problems resulting from the infringement of minority rights in Bangladesh. The organization was established in 1988 to protect the rights of religious and ethnic minorities in the country after Islam was instituted as the state religion by constitutional amendment in 1977. Secularism had originally been a fundamental principle of Bangladesh’s 1972 Constitution. But this founding principle was altered by then-President, Ziaur Rahman, who replaced the non-sectarian text with a commitment to the “absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah.” Over the years, many challenges arose against the constitutional amendment amid calls for Bangladesh to return to secularism. All have been rejected and Islam remains as the official state religion.