To: Mrs. Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Prime Minister
Tejgaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Rome, _________, 2010

Your Excellency Mrs. Sheikh Hasina,

We are addressing you as the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh concerning the plight of the Jumma people and of the other minorities living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

The news and documents that through many a hardship made their way out of your country to the world and into our conscience are such they cannot be dismissed or downplayed; instead we feel prompted into action to let the wrongs be addressed and all further violence deterred.

Your Excellency, as the democratically elected leader of your country we know you care about your people's welfare and progress. Welfare and progress can only be achieved when the people is in peace and when there is harmony in the land over the many differences that naturally occur among the people, that they are of a social, political, cultural, linguistic or religious nature.

We also believe you are aware that a people split between factions at war against each other, where a large number of people suffer from unprovoked violence and a gross injustice that is not addressed and corrected with vigor, determination and wisdom by the government, cannot truly be called a people. That is, it is not in fact a union of human beings sharing a common aspiration to improve their livelihood and land, each sharing with his or her fellow countrymen the peculiar knowledge, work, endeavour and culture he or she is endowed with to everyone's joy and benefit. Instead, a people that is separated by war, hatred, prejudice, exploitation and any such despicable injustice cannot be regarded as a source of inspiration and admiration.

We do believe there is a lot of beauty and wisdom in being able (if not willing) to live together with people that are different from us. It is up to every single individual to find for him or herself the best balance in today's extremely diverse and changing world, and it is all too human to make mistakes in this matter. This means that those who are vested with a role of leadership, like are parents within a family and those at the government, have an enormous responsibility in what they chose to do or say or not to do and not to say. Their choices will reflect the qualities of their people and will strongly affect how these qualities will evolve in the future.

We thus urge you to take steps to defend anyone's right in your country to profess his or her religion and to live in peace as a full member of the Bangladeshi people, fully enjoining the rights and duties of all the others. Today's world is in dire need of a courageous act of compassion and wisdom such that the many wrongs and conflicts that plague a large number of people can be redressed, justice be done and peace firmly established. We turn to you to be able to show the world how a brave leader can take the right decisions to secure her own country a long lasting peace, progress and unity in the diversity.

Sincerelly yours,