Last week, a number of Hindu temples had been vandalized throughout violent protests throughout Bangladesh, fueled by movies of a Quran being positioned on the toes of a Hindu statue throughout the celebration of the Hindu competition Durga Puja.
The Quran video sparked outrage in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, and lots of of Muslims protested violently in additional than a dozen districts. Hindus’ properties had been additionally attacked, and 6 individuals, together with two Hindus, had been killed.
On Monday, followers of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, a Hindu advocacy group, joined in blocking a serious crossroads within the Bangladeshi capital to demand justice by Dhaka University college students and lecturers.
Several different Hindu teams additionally joined the peaceable protest at Dhaka’s Shahbagh Square. Some Muslim teams additionally staged comparable protests over the “derogatory” picture of the Muslim holy ebook on the idol of a Hindu god.
International rights group Amnesty International has referred to as on authorities to take rapid steps to guard minority neighborhood members in opposition to such assaults and to make sure justice and efficient remedy for victims.
The UN’s Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, Mia Seppo, has additionally referred to as on the Bangladeshi authorities to make sure the protection of minorities and guarantee a good investigation into the incidents.
Religious unrest poses a problem to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, which has at all times portrayed itself as secular and minority-friendly, particularly since turning into Bangladesh’s ruling occasion in 2009.
Bangladeshi writers and activists take part in a human chain demanding an finish to communal violence and justice for violence in opposition to Hindu communities throughout the Durga Puja competition on October 19, 2021 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Reuters)
Thousands of assaults documented lately
However, the Hindu neighborhood in Bangladesh usually faces violence. The Ain O Salish Center (ASK), a Bangladeshi human rights group that paperwork assaults on minority communities, estimates that there have been greater than 3,600 assaults concentrating on Hindus in Bangladesh since 2013.
The assaults included vandalism and arson concentrating on greater than 550 properties and 440 retailers and companies. According to ASK, over 1,670 circumstances of vandalism and arson on Hindu temples, idols and locations of worship had been registered throughout that interval.
In these incidents, 11 members of the Hindu neighborhood had been killed and 862 others had been injured. Many circumstances of sexual harassment in opposition to Hindu girls additionally got here to the fore throughout this era.
Rana Dasgupta, normal secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC), informed DW that the precise variety of assaults might be a lot larger than ASK had estimated.
Bangladeshi writers and activists take part in a human chain demanding an finish to communal violence and justice for violence in opposition to Hindu communities throughout the Durga Puja competition on October 19, 2021 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Reuters)
“Although there were attacks on Hindus in the 1990s and 2000s as well, we are seeing a consistent pattern of such attacks since 2011, which is worrying,” he informed DW.
“We thought that the life of the Hindu community would be better under the Awami League government, but it did not happen,” he informed DW.
Hindus make up lower than 9% of Bangladesh’s complete inhabitants of over 170 million, with 90% of the inhabitants being Muslims.
According to Bangladeshi authorities figures, over the previous 4 a long time, the proportion of Bangladesh’s Hindu inhabitants has declined from 13.5 per cent to eight.5 per cent.
Bangladeshi writers and activists take part in a human chain demanding an finish to communal violence and justice for violence in opposition to Hindu communities throughout the Durga Puja competition on October 19, 2021 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (Reuters)
Although financial causes are a part of why Bangladeshi Hindus migrate to neighboring India, BHBCUC professional Dasgupta considers safety to be the primary motive Hindus depart Bangladesh.
“The reason behind the attacks is to drive the minorities out of their homes, reducing the minority population of Bangladesh,” he informed DW.
Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh are sometimes not punished
Dasgupta blamed spiritual fundamentalists, particularly supporters of Bangladesh’s largest Islamist occasion Jamaat-e-Islami, for the assaults on the Hindu neighborhood.
However, the occasion has remained largely inactive since a number of of its leaders had been executed a number of years in the past for struggle crimes dedicated throughout the 1971 freedom battle in opposition to Pakistan.
Bangladesh activists attend a torchlight procession demanding justice for violence in opposition to Hindu communities throughout the Durga Puja competition in Dhaka, Bangladesh, October 18, 2021. (Reuters)
Junaid Saki, chief coordinator of the left-wing political occasion Gana Sanhti Andolan, informed DW that the Awami League condemns the assaults, however does nothing to stop them from taking place once more.
Saki has visited a number of locations the place there have been assaults in opposition to the Hindu neighborhood lately.
“The pattern of these attacks is the same: first, something is posted on Facebook and marked by others as an ‘insult to Islam’, and then a group of people attack a particular location where religious minorities live. are,” he mentioned.
“The ruling Awami League occasion blames spiritual fundamentalists after the assault and vows to take motion in opposition to the culprits. But later nothing occurs and nobody will get punished for the assaults.”
Hundreds of Hindus shout slogans in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, October 18, 2021, to protest in opposition to assaults on temples and the killing of two Hindu devotees in one other district. (AP)
‘Little hope’ for justice
Rana Dasgupta mentioned the Hindu victims of the assaults battle to get authorized assist from the federal government regardless of guarantees of reform.
“Previous governments did not allow registration of cases when Hindu victims were attacked. Under the Awami League government, we can register cases, but justice is not served even after registering a complaint,” he informed DW.
ASK director Nina Goswami additionally mentioned that assaults on Hindus are not often prosecuted.
“Our culture of impunity is a major reason behind this,” he informed DW.
“Sometimes influential individuals stop the police from recording proof of assaults. We have additionally seen that investigations weaken over time, and criminals are launched with out going through any punishment in some unspecified time in the future.”
Goswami mentioned he had little hope of justice for the members of the Hindu neighborhood in Bangladesh.
“Whichever political party is in power in Bangladesh, the Hindu community has never got the protection it deserves,” he mentioned.
Rather, the events tried to make use of the neighborhood for his or her political curiosity, he mentioned.
However, Bangladeshi Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan insisted that these chargeable for the assaults on Hindu properties and temples be delivered to justice.
“All incidents will be investigated, and the guilty will be brought to justice; No one will be spared,” he informed reporters in Dhaka.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
