In the wake of chaotic and disputed parliamentary elections
in early January, the Hindu minority in Bangladesh finds itself in an
increasingly perilous position in a country where they are
overwhelmingly outnumbered by Muslims. Before the Jan. 5 parliamentary
election, police arrested dozens of activists affiliated with the
Jamaat-e-Islami (J-e-I) Muslim fundamentalist party as well as the
right-wing opposition Bangladesh National Party, allegedly for attacking
Hindus and destroying their homes and property. According to reports,
the Islamists damaged more than 100 homes belonging to Hindus and
wounded scores of people in what may have been a coordinated series of
violent acts across the country. At least two dozen people were killed.
Human Rights Watch, the New York-based activist group, said of the
recent turmoil: "Members of the [J-e-I] and its youth wing, [Jamaat]
Shibir, alongside supporters of the [BNP] have engaged in countless
attacks on security forces and others.” HRW added that the attacks
included “throwing homemade grenades and petrol bombs at police, arson
attacks to enforce a road blockade, derailing passenger trains, setting
fire to the homes and businesses of the Hindus and the Awami League
officials, and throwing grenades into crowded streets."
The Awami League is the governing party.
Deutsche Welle, the German broadcaster, reported that the latest
round of violence represented the second such wave of anti-Hindu attacks
in less than a year. A few months ago Islamists wrecked hundreds of
Hindu-owned homes and shops, apparently in retaliation for the country’s
International Crimes Tribunal sentencing of several aging senior
members of J-e-I to death for their part in war crimes committed during
the War of Independence against Pakistan in 1971.
Dr. Michael Kugelman, senior program associate for South and
Southeast Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
in Washington, said the J-e-I views the war crimes trials as a
politically motivated campaign by the Awami League to discredit the
Islamists and nationalists, while appeasing Hindu-dominated India, which
has quietly pressed for prosecution of suspected war criminals from the
devastating 1971 civil war that created Bangladesh. “The Awami League
appreciates Delhi's support, given that India was one of the few
countries to accept Bangladesh's recent flawed election won by the Awami
League,” Kugelman stated. “The [Awami League] has done much already to
crack down on extremism, though it's hard to argue this was done simply
to appease India -- it was also done to reduce the possibility of a more
destabilized Bangladesh.”
Meanwhile, Bangladeshi Islamists periodically target scapegoated
Hindus as an expression of their frustrations and because Hindus tend to
support Awami. DW reported that human rights lawyer and activist
Sultana Kamal condemned the attacks on Hindus. "I strongly feel that
what is happening to the Hindu community in Bangladesh definitely falls
under the definition of crimes against humanity," she said. A similar
wave of violence against minorities in 2001, when the BNP was in power,
prompted an exodus of Hindus out of the country; followed by yet another
campaign during the 2008 election.
Hindus once were plentiful in Bangladesh and its predecessor state,
East Pakistan. Prior to the 1971 war, Hindus comprised almost one-third
(30 percent) of the population. They now account for only about 9
percent of Bangladesh's citizens, partly due to the rapid growth of the
Muslim population, but also due to the mass migration of Bangladeshi
Hindus to India, the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and elsewhere
over the decades.
Some observers fret that the Hindu community in Bangladesh may
continue to dwindle in size and proportion. "I fear Bangladesh will
become 'Banglastan' if things don't change," Rana Dasgupta, a human
rights lawyer, told DW.
Another aspect to these assaults on Hindus involve the illegal
seizures of their homes and properties. This practice dates back to at
least 1965 when, after a brief war between India and Pakistan (which
then included what is now Bangladesh), officials in Dhaka passed a law
called the Enemy Property Act, which essentially allowed authorities to
confiscate properties of people labeled as “enemies of the state.” That
piece of legislation has been exploited by Islamists and others to take
properties away from religious minorities, particularly Hindus. Even
after the formation of the new allegedly secular, democratic state of
Bangladesh, the law remained in effect, but was renamed the Vested
Property Act in 1974. Not until 2001 did the government repeal this law
and begin the process of returning seized properties to their rightful
owners (or their descendants). DW noted, however, that Islamists
continue to invoke this old law as a justification of taking assets from
Hindus and other minorities.
Dhiraj Kumar Nath, a former secretary and adviser to Bangladesh’s
caretaker government, lamented how social ills and divisions have been
exacerbated by laws on the books. "The legacy of discriminatory laws has
continued for the past 48 years, causing communal hatred and discontent
between Hindus and Muslims," Nath told DW. Indeed, the largely secular
Awami League government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly
condemned the J-e-I for its violence, while the country’s Supreme Court
has ordered police to probe anti-Hindu attacks. But these measures have
failed to stem the tide of communal violence against Hindus. "It is the
responsibility of the state to give them protection, to restore their
trust as well as the belief that Bangladesh is a safe place for them,"
Kamal said.
The Modern Tokyo Times reported that the rise of fundamentalist Islam
in Bangladesh mirrors a similar emergence of militant groups in
Pakistan and threatens hopes for stability in
Bangladesh. “Jamaat-e-Islami is a continuing cancer that threatens
society directly along with sinister political forces that manipulate
Islamists for personal gains,” MTT wrote. “Islamist violence directed
towards the Hindu community is all too familiar.”
Writing in The Diplomat, Sanjay Kumar said Bangladesh’s minorities
are also subject to acts of arson and even rape by J-e-I thugs. After
enduring violent attacks and the loss of homes and businesses, many
Hindus across Bangladesh live in a state of trauma and fear returning to
their native villages. “Jamaat-Shibir has created a situation of panic
in and around the village,” a Hindu grocer in Ramganj named Jaynto
Mondol told The Diplomat. "They destroyed around 50 shops in my area and
we had to flee to another village to take shelter.” Mondol said he
thinks that J-e-I and its allies want to turn Bangladesh into a “purely
Islamic country by throwing the Hindus out. We can’t live in peace.”
Another Hindu, Joy Debnath, who lives in the district of Bogra, put
the blame on squarely on fundamentalists, not ordinary Muslims. “The
problem is not the Muslims of Bangladesh; the problem is with Jamaat and
their thought. Violence by the Islamic fundamentalist group makes me
feel unsafe. The administration should protect us from such danger,”
Debnath said.
Some civil groups want the government to prosecute members of J-e-I
who have repeatedly perpetrated such violence. They also believe that
the trials of suspected war criminals from 1971 will continue to
exacerbate the current wave of criminality against minorities. “The rise
in recent attacks is the sign of a reassertion of the communal forces
led by the Jamaat-Shibir,” said Professor Nim Chandta Bhowmik of Dhaka
University, who is also a senior member of the Hindu, Buddhist and
Christian Unity Forum. “We have seen increased attacks on minorities by
them. It is an attempt to use these minorities as pawns to bargain for
the release of [1971 war] criminals facing trial under the tribunal.
Such attacks are an attack on the character of the constitution and the
spirit of Bengali nationalism.”
Many Hindus live in northern Bangladesh, near the Indian border, an
area where tense relations with Muslims have worsened due to the
infiltration of J-e-I elements. “I was sitting in the [Hindu] temple
when some [Islamists] came and destroyed the idols and tried burning the
place of worship. I just managed to escape by the grace of God,” Suresh
Mondol, a Hindu resident of a Binakudi village in Nilphamari district,
told The Diplomat. “We are now vigilant these days and have formed a
group of people who keep watch on the village. Jamaat threatens our
existence and wants to grab our property.”
Even some Muslims fear the rise of extremism. Mondol’s Muslim
neighbor Naim Hossain lamented: “If Hindus are scared of a Jamaat-BNP
alliance so are we. I might be Muslim but that does not mean I cannot
exist with Hindus. They are as much a part of this soil as we are. The
fundamentalists want chaos and want to destroy peace in the region.”
A report in Time magazine suggested that in Bangladesh, a deeply
impoverished and overcrowded nation, scarcity of land is at the heart of
the matter behind the communal violence. ”When we say it’s just
political, it legitimizes the violence,” Jyotrimoy Barua, a Supreme
Court lawyer in Dhaka told Time. “Most of the people’s houses they are
burning are [those of the] poor. If you burn their house, they will
leave the country, and you get their land.”
But Kugelman assures that J-e-I has no hope of ever gaining power in
Bangladesh and achieving its aims of establishing a pure Islamic society
based on Shariah law. ”The idea of the J-e-I seizing power in
Bangladesh is a non-starter,” he said. “It's not going to happen. That
said, its links to the BNP, the chief political opposition party in
Bangladesh, have strengthened in recent years. If the BNP were to return
to power, the question of a J-e-I role in a new governing coalition
would certainly come up. But the J-e-I will not be seizing power on its
own.”
3:49 AM
Consequent upon barbarous attacks 1) Ms. Aloke Rani Das (28), 2) Jahar Lal Das (45), 3) Ms.Shova Rani Das (45), 4) Bikash (24), 5) Sukdev Das (12), 6) Parimal Das (60) along with 20 others were physically assaulted by those Hooligans.
50 Minority Hindus left the village towards Feni River by boat for their safety and security. ( Source : The Daily Jugantor dated 28th October,15) The local S.P. Md. Rezaul Hoque visited the place of occurrence.
Bangladesh Minority Watch immediately communicated with Md. Rezaul Hoque - S.P. Feni over his mobile number 01713373773 who informed us that the incident is not a big thing,it arises on a simple matter and it is not a " Minority Repression" I also communicated with local A.S.P. Circle Refaeu Ullah who also tried to suppress the matter showing the incident is a normal one. I also communicated with Morshed - Officer in Charge of Feni Sadar Police station who also tried to disconnect telephone line time and again and he last said - " I am busy and you will call me later on "
Bangladesh Minority Watch is very much concerned about attacks on Minority Hindus families at Feni and BDMW also demand immediate arrest of perpetrators responsible for attacking Hindu families rendering them homeless. The perpetrators should be brought to book as per law of the land. - See more at: http://www.eibela.com/english/article/minority-hindu-families-brutally-tortured-in-feni#sthash.nsZRoH8Z.dpuf
