Bhubaneswar: December 3: Over 100 Hindu houses in Sunamganj were attacked and looted on allegations of blasphemy on Facebook. Jewellery shops owned by Hindus looted. Also, 1.5 million Bangladeshi Taka worth furnitures were stolen from the Loknath Temple. Additionally, two more temples were vandalized.

December 7: The Mahabhagya Lakshminarayan Mandir, at Dhor village, in North of Dhaka came under attack on late night. Supervisor of the temple, Babul Ghosh, filed a complaint against unidentified miscreants for burning down his ancestral temple.

Such frequent incidents of attack on Hindu places of worship and citizens in Bangladesh had shocked the world community. These incidents were reported just before 48 hours of India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s first visit to Bangladesh after fall of Sheikh Hasina government.  

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF MISRI’S VISIT?

A day after India’s FS Misri’s visit to Bangladesh concluded, on December 11, the press secretary to Interim government head Mohammad Yunus conceded attack on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, post the fall of Sheikh Hasina govt in August.

The statement reads as, “Between August 5 and October 22, Government of Bangladesh has registered 88 cases against attacks on Hindus/minorities in the country. The govt has reportedly arrested 70 people in this connection.”

Denying the communal violence, Shafiqul Alam, Press Secy to Mohammad Yunus claimed, “Some attacked targeted individuals were either former members of the ruling party or were the result of personal disputes. As violence occurred, the police are taking appropriate action.”

However, since December 12, no new incident of attack on Hindus/minorities in Bangladesh has been reported.

Experts attribute the halt of Hindu targeted riots in the neighbouring Bangladesh to impact of India’s Foreign Secy Vikram Misri’s visit and condemnation by UK Parliament and other world community leaders.  

BANGLADESH GOING PAKISTAN WAY?

A look at the incidents of attack on Hindu community in Bangladesh after August 5 and its comparable analysis of incidents from Pakistan raises many an eyebrow. The data released by MEA is given below.

Even as Pakistan was hit by the political and economic turmoil, the attacks on Hindus have not escalated; data shows the scenario has been different in Bangladesh, despite Sheikh Hasina’s regime, the year 2023 saw 302 attacks, higher than Pakistan. This shows Islam fundamentalism is growing stronger in the eastern neighbor than that in the western neighbour.

As per the data, after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, the attackers got a free hand as the number of attacks grew by an astonishing 628% to touch 2200 till Dec 8.

US 2023 RELIGIOUS FREEEDOM REPORT ON BANGLADESH

Here are the detailed findings of the Religious Freedom Report released by USA in 2023 that shows how Bangladesh is going the Pakistan way.

• In January 2023, in Kotalipara, Gopalganj District, a mob attacked the house of a Hindu man in response to a Facebook post of his which they said they believed demeaned the Prophet Muhammad.
• Family members living in the house told the media they did not know what the Facebook post said, and that a crowd of 400-500 individuals attacked their home.
• As per the report, leaders of religious minority communities continued to say the government frequently used laws such as the Digital Security Act (DSA) to target members of religious minority groups, particularly Hindus, for “hurting the religious sentiments” of Muslim populations.
• In almost all cases, courts took harsher measures against members of religious minorities for posting allegedly derogatory content on Facebook than against the perpetrators of retaliatory violence.
• The Ambassador and U.S. embassy officials engaged throughout the year with host government officials to express concern over violence against the Ahmadi community and other religious minorities and the use of the DSA against members of religious minority communities
• Police arrested 74 persons following the 2021 arson and communal violence against Hindus in Rangpur, but all were released on bail at various times during 2023 and none were convicted.
• In October 2023, a court granted a senior leader of Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam bail in five cases filed against him, related to inciting violence during that group’s protests against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the country in 2021.
• Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and members of other minority religious communities, who were also sometimes members of ethnic minority groups, continued to report property and land ownership disputes and forced eviction cases, including some involving the government, the report added.
• In May 2023, the High Court asked the government to explain why the deprivation of Hindu women’s rights regarding divorce, guardianship, and equal property inheritance should not be considered illegal.
• Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2023 Report on the country assessed that religious, ethnic, and other marginalized groups remained underrepresented in politics and state agencies

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