, Jan. 30 -- BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed on Friday said that those who persecuted the country's Hindu community during the 1971 Liberation War have returned in a new form to contest elections, raising concerns about the safety of all citizens in Bangladesh.

Speaking at an interaction meeting with Hindu and Buddhist communities in Bishwas Para, Pekuya, Cox's Bazar, Salahuddin said, "During the great Liberation War, a religion-based group inflicted the most suffering on our Hindu brothers and sisters. Those who did not believe in independence or opposed it were responsible for this persecution."

He added that under BNP rule, people of all faiths lived in safety, and the party's founder, the martyred President Ziaur Rahm...