- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Minority organisations claim that the situation was deteriorating and urged Muhammad Yunus to put an end to the violence
By: shajil kumar
MEMBERS of minority communities in Bangladesh faced at least 205 incidents of attacks in 52 districts since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5, according to two local Hindu organisations.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad on Friday presented the data in an open letter to 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who was sworn in as the head of an interim government, The Daily Star newspaper reported.
According to the data, at least 205 attacks on members of minority communities in 52 districts have been recorded since Monday, when Hasina, 76, resigned and fled to India following widespread protests against her government over a controversial quota system in jobs.
“We seek protection because our lives are in a disastrous state. We are staying up 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,” Nirmal Rosario, one of the three presidents of the unity council, said.
Asserting that the situation was deteriorating, Rosario urged Yunus to resolve the crisis by giving it top priority and putting an end to the violence.
The letter, signed by Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council General Secretary Rana Dasgupta and Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad President Basudev Dhar, welcomed Yunus as the leader of a new era born from the unprecedented student-and public-led mass uprising aimed at establishing an equitable society and reform.
“When people’s victory is advancing towards its destination, we, with sorrow and heavy hearts, observe that a vested quarter is hatching a conspiracy to tarnish this achievement by carrying out unprecedented violence against minority communities,” the letter said.
It said that 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.
Kajal Devnath, a presidium member of the unity council, said, “Those involved in attacking minorities must be brought to justice. If a minority individual is attacked for political reasons, it is still unacceptable. Anyone who commits a crime should be judged, but burning homes and looting will not lead to justice.”
Asserting that many Hindu community members are now taking refuge in others’ homes, he said, “I, too, am forced to stay at a friend’s house.”
On Friday, Yunus announced the portfolios of his 16-member council of advisors after he was sworn in a day earlier as the chief advisor – a position equivalent to the prime minister.
Yunus’ first task was to bring stability to Bangladesh after he responded to a call by student protesters for him to temporarily lead the country following weeks of deadly anti-government demonstrations against the government led by Hasina.
Foreign Affairs adviser Hossain said that restoring law and order is the key priority of the interim government at the moment, and others will be back on track once the first goal is achieved.
On Thursday, Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said that he stands against any racially based attacks amid violence against the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh.
“What we’ve made clear is we want to make sure that the violence that has been occurring in Bangladesh in recent weeks is tamped down. Certainly, we stand against any racially based attacks or racially based incitement to violence,” Haq said.
Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government on Monday, taking the death toll to 560 since the anti-quota protests first started in mid-July.
A number of Hindu temples, households and businesses were vandalised, women assaulted and at least two Hindu leaders affiliated with the Awami League party headed by Hasina were killed in the violence in Bangladesh after she fled the country, according to two community leaders in Dhaka.
Hasina’s flight has heightened rancour towards India, which backed her to the hilt.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged “safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities”.
The caretaker administration Yunus helms has said that restoration of law and order is its “first priority”.
Complicating its efforts is a strike declared Tuesday by the police union, saying its members would not return to work until their safety was assured.
Bangladesh’s police force said more than half of the country’s police stations had reopened by Saturday.
The buildings are being guarded by soldiers from the army, an institution held in higher public regard than the police for opting not to forcibly quell the protests.
Two attempted jailbreaks were staged at prisons north of the capital Dhaka this week, with more than 200 inmates fleeing one facility.
Hasina allies under attack
Several top appointees of Sheikh Hasina have been forced out of office – including the national police chief and the central bank governor.
On Saturday, the chief justice of the Supreme Court became the latest to announce his departure, with private broadcaster Jamuna TV reporting he had agreed “in principle” to resign.
Appointed last year, Obaidul Hassan oversaw a much-criticised war crimes tribunal that ordered the execution of Hasina’s opponents, and his brother was her longtime secretary.
His announcement came after hundreds of protesters gathered outside the court to demand he step down by the early afternoon.
“No one should do anything that pits the Supreme Court against the mass uprising of the students and the people,” Asif Nazrul, a student protest leader now serving in Yunus’ government, told reporters.
‘Hasina should face trial’
A Bangladeshi student leader who was instrumental in overthrowing Sheikh Hasina and is now part of an interim government said she must face trial when she returns home.
Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy has said she will return to Bangladesh from India, where she is sheltering, once elections are announced in her home country, which the main opposition has demanded should be held in three months.
“I am curious why she fled the country,” student leader Nahid Islam, who is effectively a minister in the caretaker government, told Reuters late on Friday in his first interview since joining the government on Thursday as an adviser.
“We will seek justice for all the killings that happened under her, that has been one of the main demands of our revolution. Even if she does not come back, we will work towards that.”
“We want to arrest her – whether that will work through the regular judicial system or a special tribunal on that or not, we are discussing how to proceed on the matter,” said Islam, 26, who now heads the postal, telecommunication and information technology ministries.
Joy, who is based in the United States, did not respond to a request seeking comment. Hasina, who is under the protection of the Indian government, could not be contacted. (Agencies)
