Staff Correspondent

Bangladesh’s minority population could boycott the upcoming national election if their rights are not protected in the lead-up to the polls, warned the Minority Rights Movement, a platform representing minority communities.

While minority communities make up eight percent of the country’s population, the group expressed concern that they may be “used for political gains only” during the election, citing silence from both the interim government and political parties on safeguarding their rights.

The remarks came during a press conference titled “The Situation of Eight Percent Population After One Year of Uprising,” organised by the platform at the Jatiya Press Club in the capital.

At the event, the platform also announced the “National Minority Conference-2025”, scheduled for August 22, to press home their various demands.

Sushmita Kar, a representative of the platform, said following last year’s July uprising, members of minority communities took to the streets on August 9 to push for an eight-point demand. These included enacting a Minority Protection Act and a law to eliminate discrimination.

She said the demands were submitted to the interim government, and repeated pleas have been made for their

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