DHAKA, Bangladesh — On Thursday, Bangladesh’s most prominent group advocating for minority rights accused the interim government of failing to safeguard religious and ethnic minorities against violence and intimidation, a statement that the government vehemently refuted.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council asserted that the administration led by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus is utilizing state mechanisms to subdue minority populations. Yunus assumed office following a student-led protest last year, which resulted in the deaths of numerous individuals and prompted the former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, to flee to India on August 5, concluding her 15-year tenure.
The council had previously reported that from August 4 to 20, there were 2,010 incidents of communal violence across the predominantly Muslim nation. The government under Yunus contested this allegation, attributing most incidents to “political reasons” rather than communal tensions.
Historically, members of minority communities, including Hindus, have been perceived as allies of Hasina’s Bangladesh Awami League party. During a press conference on Thursday, the council reaffirmed its previous claims of violence, citing 174 additional incidents of communal strife from August 21 to December 31 last year, leading to the deaths of 23 minority individuals and the reported rapes of nine women. Other incidents involved acts of arson, vandalism, looting, and the illegal seizure of property and businesses. The group reported that at least 15 individuals from minority communities faced arrest or torture on allegations of undermining Islam.
Manindra Kumar Nath, acting general secretary of the council, accused the government of misusing state institutions to target minority groups. “It appears that the interim government has begun employing various key state entities to conduct discriminatory actions against minorities. This is disheartening and unexpected from a government founded on the principles of an anti-discrimination student movement,” he remarked.
The council claimed that a systematic campaign against minority groups is underway and demanded the release of a detained Hindu leader. Nath stated that Chinmoy Das Prabhu, also known as Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, is being denied his legal right to bail in a sedition case.
Nath expressed concern that numerous minority leaders have gone into hiding due to unfounded charges leveled against them. Meanwhile, the interim government insists that these leaders are facing specific charges unrelated to communal motives.
Under Yunus’s leadership, Bangladesh is experiencing heightened tensions with Hindu-majority India regarding minority rights, leading to protests and counter-protests. Less than 8% of Bangladesh’s population, which stands at 170 million, is Hindu. Many officials within the interim government are displeased with India for providing refuge to Hasina, and a special tribunal in Bangladesh has called for her arrest, although an extradition request submitted to India has yet to receive a response.
India, which took in 10 million refugees during the 1971 war for Bangladesh’s liberation from Pakistan and supported its fight for independence, regards Hasina as a reliable ally. Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was a key figure in Bangladesh’s independence movement and a prominent leader against India’s regional adversary, Pakistan.
