Ensure safety of all: 50 personalities write to Yunus

Over 50 noted personalities from West Bengal wrote to Bangladesh president Mohammed Shahabuddin and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who took oath as the head of an interim government, urging them to ensure the safety of all sections of society.

Among the signatories of the letter were filmmaker Aparna Sen, educationist Pabitra Sarkar and former Supreme Court judge Ashok Ganguly.

In the letter, they voiced concern over the attack on minorities in Bangladesh, while hailing instances of one community protecting the places of worship of another community.

"The people of Bangladesh will decide what kind of political and administrative leadership will come in the country, but we appeal to both the current administration and also to the common people of Bangladesh, particularly the students who have brought about this change through the anti-quota and anti-discrimination movement, to ensure the safety and security of each Bangladeshi citizen irrespective of religion, political affinity and profession," said the letter, written in Bengali.

"We are deeply concerned with the present developments in Bangladesh... Bangladesh is just not a neighbouring country for the people of West Bengal in terms of location, but also a neighbour at heart, as we share language, culture and history," it added.

The noted personalities said that they wrote the letter as the country has been on the boil and many of them were receiving calls from Bangladeshi friends from all over the world on the deteriorating situation.

A copy of the letter was also sent to the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata.