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Bangladesh: After the bloody overthrow of Sheikh Hasina’s government in Bangladesh, attacks on Hindus continue. There are frequent reports of forced resignations from Hindu employees, occupation of their lands, burning of houses, destruction of temples and statues and rape of women.
The attacks were largely ignored by the interim government of Bangladesh and major media outlets around the world, but the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das, head of the Hindu organization and religious leader of ISKCON, drew international attention to Hindu persecution in Bangladesh. The assembly has been accused of treason by hoisting the ISKCON flag and the Bangladeshi flag.
On the basis on which he has been arrested, every spectator sitting in a football stadium where the flag of his favorite club is flying above the Bangladeshi flag can be arrested. A case of treason has been registered under Penal Code sections 121 and 124, requiring permission from the Home Ministry to prosecute, but Dhaka Police made the arrest directly.
How dare the Bangladeshi government and its police remain completely inactive in the attacks on hundreds of temples and heinous crimes committed against Hindus and other minorities between July 15 and August 8 on the orders of the Home Ministry? All cases filed against the ‘opponents’ have been withdrawn. Bangladeshi police are arresting Hindus in completely fake cases.
It is also worth noting that Bangladesh National Party leader Firoz Khan, on whose complaint a Hindu religious leader was arrested, has been suspended from the party by the BNP for this ridiculous complaint. It is clear that the interim government of Mohammad Yunus wants to teach the Hindu Maulvi a lesson for his courage in protecting Hindu interests.
It is also clear that the interim government wants Hindus not to take to the streets to protest against the atrocities being committed against them. Despite international criticism of the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das, two other ISKCON saints were arrested. Many bank accounts of ISKCON have also been seized. The saints associated with him are being stopped from coming to India.
Due to fear of fatal attack on Chinmay’s lawyer Raman Rai, no lawyer is coming forward to represent him. In fact, the historic Hindu rally held in Chittagong on October 25 has angered Islamic fundamentalists and the Yunus government and they want to crush the Hindu leadership by any means. The violence that has been going on in Bangladesh for the last four-five months is different in the sense that there is a campaign to deny, hide or minimize it.
Under this, Voice of America radio channel conducted a survey and asked Bangladeshis whether minorities are safe in the interim government? How flawed this survey was can be understood from the fact that only 927 respondents out of 1000 people were Muslims. In the survey, 64.1 percent people said that the condition of minorities in the interim government was better than during the reign of Sheikh Hasi. The results of this fake survey were presented as facts by Bangladeshi and foreign media.
According to the Hindu Buddhist Christian Council, attacks on minorities occurred in the first months of the 2010 coup. Bangladesh’s largest newspaper ‘Pratham Alo’, in an investigation conducted by its journalists, confirmed 1068 attacks on Hindus and other minorities in 49 districts between August 5 and 20. Nine Hindus were killed in these attacks.
This newspaper’s correspondents personally witnessed 546 of these attacks. Bangladesh Police has not only completely failed to stop anti-Hindu violence, but has also targeted Hindus. An example of this is the brutal lathi charge on peacefully protesting Hindus in Hazari Lane, Rangpur, Chittagong. In Khulna, police first arrested an 18-year-old celebrant and brought him to the police station on blasphemy charges and then allowed the mob to attack him.
If minorities are at risk in West and East Pakistan (Bangladesh), created against their will, it is India’s moral responsibility to protect them. India’s role becomes even more important in relation to Bangladesh because it has played an important role in its creation. Whenever attacks on Hindus start there, groups of refugees come towards India, hence atrocities on minorities cannot be dismissed as an internal matter of Bangladesh.
Although the Indian government has appealed to the interim government of Bangladesh to protect the lives and property of minorities, it is not enough. India should also reevaluate its relations as the ruling dispensation of Bangladesh is moving towards becoming East Pakistan again.
If India thinks that after Donald Trump becomes President, it will put pressure on Bangladesh through diplomatic efforts, then perhaps it is too late. India may insist on deployment of joint forces for the protection of minorities in Bangladesh. Such an example can be seen in Africa, where joint forces have been deployed in many countries for the protection of minorities.
