Zakir Hossain / Dhaka
Bangladesh’s largest minority rights group has accused the country’s interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, of failing to protect religious and ethnic minorities from attacks and harassment, a claim that the government has denied.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council has alleged that the interim government is using state institutions to suppress minority groups. Yunus took over after a student-led uprising last year in which thousands of people died forced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India on August 5, ending her 15-year rule.
The council earlier said 2,010 incidents of communal violence took place across the Muslim-majority country between August 4 and 20. The Yunus-led government disputed the claim, saying that most of the incidents were caused by “political reasons” and not by communal issues.
At a press conference on Thursday, the council reiterated its claims, stating that 174 new incidents of communal violence took place between August 21 and December 31 last year. These incidents allegedly resulted in 23 deaths and the rape of nine women from minority communities. The council further reported cases of arson, vandalism, looting, and forcible takeover of property and businesses. The council also claimed that at least 15 members of minority groups were either arrested or tortured on charges of undermining Islam.
Manindra Kumar Nath, the council’s acting general secretary, accused the government of manipulating state institutions to harass people from minority groups. “We have observed that the interim government has begun using various important state institutions to carry out discriminatory actions against minorities. This is unexpected and undesirable from a government that was established based on the anti-discrimination student movement,” Nath stated. The council also called for the release of Chinmoy Das Prabhu, a Hindu monk and minority rights activist also known as Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, who has been jailed on sedition charges.
Nath claimed that Prabhu is being denied his legal right to bail and that many other minority leaders have gone into hiding due to what he described as false charges against them. The interim government, however, has maintained that those arrested face specific charges unrelated to communal issues and that law enforcement actions are not targeting any community.
The allegations of minority suppression have further strained Bangladesh’s relations with neighboring India, where Hasina is currently residing. The issue has led to protests and counter-protests in both countries. Yunus-led interim government is reportedly unhappy with India sheltering Hasina, and a special tribunal in Dhaka has sought her arrest. While an official request for her extradition has been sent to India, New Delhi has yet to respond.