‘Over 2,000 attacks on Hindus’: Minorities hold massive rally in Bangladesh

Tens of thousands of minority Hindus protested on Friday in Bangladesh to demand protection from a wave of attacks and harassment and drop sedition cases against Hindu community leaders. Rallies were held as the country’s minority group, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, claimed there have been more than 2,000 attacks on Hindus since August 4, as the interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, has struggled to restore order.
According to news agency PTI, around 30,000 Hindus held demonstrations at a major intersection in the southeastern city of Chattogram. They reportedly chanted slogans, demanding their rights while police and soldiers guarded the area. Other protests were reported elsewhere in the country.
Friday’s protest in Chattogram was hastily organised after sedition charges were filed Wednesday against 19 Hindu leaders, including prominent priest Chandan Kumar Dhar, over an October 25 rally in that city. Police arrested two of the leaders, angering Hindus.
The charges stem from an event in which a group of rally-goers allegedly placed a saffron flag above the Bangladesh flag on a pillar, which was considered disrespecting the national flag.
Hindu community leaders say the cases are politically motivated and demanded Thursday that they be withdrawn within 72 hours. Another Hindu rally was planned for Saturday in Dhaka.
Later Friday, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police announced it was banning any rallies near the Jatiya Party’s headquarters. Hours after the police decision, the party said it postponed their rally to show respect to the law and a new date for the rally would be announced soon.
The police decision came after a student group strongly criticised the police administration for initially granting permission for the rally, and threatened to block it.
Hindu activists have been staging protest rallies in the capital, Dhaka, and elsewhere since August to press a set of eight demands including a law to protect minorities, a ministry for minorities and a tribunal to prosecute acts of oppression against minorities. They also seek a five-day holiday for their largest festival, the Durga Puja.
Hindu groups said there have been thousands of attacks against Hindus in Bangladesh since early August, when then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown. Hasina fled the country following a student-led uprising.
Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel peace laureate named to lead an interim government after Hasina’s downfall, says those figures have been exaggerated. United Nations human rights officials and other rights groups have expressed concern over human rights in the country under Yunus.
Hindus make up about 8 percent of the country’s nearly 170 million people, while Muslims are about 91 per cent, PTI reported.
Hindus and other minority communities were quoted as saying that the interim government hasn’t adequately protected them and that hardline Islamists are becoming increasingly influential since Hasina’s ouster.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi voiced concern over reports of attacks.

Meanwhile, the administration of United States President Joe Biden said it is monitoring Bangladesh’s human rights issues since Hasina’s ouster, US presidential candidate Donald Trump has condemned what he described as “barbaric” violence against Hindus, Christians, and other minorities in Bangladesh.
In a post on X, Biden said: “I strongly condemn the barbaric violence against Hindus, Christians, and other minorities who are getting attacked and looted by mobs in Bangladesh, which remains in a total state of chaos.”
(With inputs from PTI)