Hindus Protest in Bangladesh for Better Protection
Noriko Watanabe and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
Attacks by Muslims against Hindus in Bangladesh are nothing new. Likewise, the mainly indigenous Buddhists of the Chittagong Hill Tracts have witnessed Islamization and mass Bengali Muslim migration for several decades.
However, the number of attacks against Hindus by Muslims has increased since the demise of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh. She resigned and fled the country in early August.
AP News reports, “Hindu groups say thousands of attacks against Hindus have happened since early August, when the secular government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown and Hasina fled the country following a student-led uprising. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel peace laureate named to lead an interim government after Hasina’s downfall, says those figures have been exaggerated.”
Approximately 8% of the population is Hindu – while Buddhists and Christians are roughly 1%. Hence, the political vacuum is enabling Islamists and anti-Hindu communalism to spread.
Yunus said from the outset, “Let us make the best use of our new victory. Let us not let this slip away because of our mistakes. I fervently appeal to everybody to stay calm. Please refrain from all kinds of violence. I appeal to all students, members of all political parties and non-political people to stay calm. This is our beautiful country with lots of exciting possibilities.”
Yunus continued, “Violence is our enemy. Please don’t create more enemies. Be calm and get ready to build the country.”
However, the recent arrests of 19 Hindu leaders – including the influential priest Chandan Kumar Dhar on grounds of sedition – are setting off alarm bells within the Hindu community. Accordingly, Hindu protests in Chattogram denounced the latest move by the state apparatus.
The Guardian reported (August 8), “Violence against Hindus appears to have started just hours after Hasina resigned and fled the capital, Dhaka, on Monday. Images of Hindus being lynched by mobs, temples set on fire and businesses looted have flooded social media in India, although the full scale of the attacks is unclear.”
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) says, “The situation remains cloudy three months later because of limited reporting. However, videos have shown anti-Hindu attacks via the prism of social media. Also, the history of communal violence means that immediate fear already existed in the minds of Hindus and other minorities (Buddhists and others in the Chittagong Hill Tracts).”
Some members of the Awami League Party have been killed and attacked since Hasina fled the country. Also, the headquarters of the Jatiya Party was recently attacked.
France 24 reports, “Members of the country’s Hindu minority feel the most vulnerable because they have traditionally backed the Awami League — seen as a secular party in the Muslim-majority nation — and because of a history of violence against them during previous upheavals.“
Bangladesh needs political and religious stability to stem the crisis.
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