Dhaka, Apr 02: Bangladesh prostitutes warned they will take to the streets to protest us-led attacks against Iraq as some 3,000 students turned a party convention here today into an anti-US demonstration. The prostitutes said they had stopped watching television because of the "horrible scenes of women and children in distress" in Iraq and planned to raise money for victims of the US-led war. "War cannot bring solution to any problem and thus we want peace and only peace," Mono Hijra, the president of the Bangladesh Hijra (eunuch) Welfare Association, told reporters here. Prostitutes joined in condemning the military action against Iraq. Vice-president of Durjoy, an organisation representing a large number of Bangladeshi prostitutes, Binu said their members would take to the streets to protest the war. They are yet to announce dates for the protest.

"If each Bangladeshi contributed one taka (cent), then we can send 140 million taka (2.41 million dollar) to the Iraqi people," prostitute Rahima said.

Bangladesh, the world's third largest Muslim-majority country, has seen daily protests and repeated calls for a peaceful end to the conflict. Major dailies here have sidelined local news to bring reports of the war.

Bureau Report