Attacks on Hindu in Bangladesh: Since former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left the country, there has been tremendous violence against minorities, especially Hindus. Two Hindu organizations have claimed that so far at least 205 incidents of violence against minorities have been reported in 52 districts of Bangladesh. According to a report in The Daily Star newspaper, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad presented this figure in an open letter to 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. Yunus has been sworn in as the head of the interim government.
According to the data, at least 205 attacks on members of minority communities have been reported in 52 districts since Monday, when 76-year-old Hasina resigned and fled to India following widespread protests against her government over a controversial quota system in jobs. “We want security as our lives are in a disastrous state. We are awake at night guarding our homes and temples. I have never seen anything like this in my life. We demand that the government restore communal harmony in the country,” said Nirmal Rosario, one of the three presidents of the Ekta Parishad.
The letter, signed by Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council general secretary Rana Dasgupta and Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad president Basudeb Dhar, welcomed Yunus as a new-age leader born out of an unprecedented student- and public-led mass uprising aimed at establishing an equitable society and reform. “As the victory of the people is moving towards its destination, we observe with sadness and heavy heart that a vested interest group is conspiring to tarnish this achievement by unleashing unprecedented violence against minority communities,” the letter said. It said the ongoing communal violence has caused widespread fear, anxiety and uncertainty among minorities in Bangladesh and has also resulted in international condemnation. “We demand an immediate end to this situation,” the report said, citing the letter.
Let us tell you that more than 230 people were killed in incidents of violence that erupted in Bangladesh after the fall of the Hasina government on Monday, taking the death toll to 560 since the anti-reservation protests began in mid-July. According to two community leaders in Dhaka, several Hindu temples, homes and businesses were vandalized, women were attacked and at least two Hindu leaders associated with Hasina’s Awami League party were killed in the violence that broke out in Bangladesh after she fled the country.
