Tens of 1000’s of minority Hindus rallied Friday to demand that the interim authorities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh defend them from a wave of assaults and harassment and drop sedition circumstances towards Hindu neighborhood leaders.
About 30,000 Hindus demonstrated at a serious intersection within the southeastern metropolis of Chattogram, chanting slogans demanding their rights whereas police and troopers guarded the world. Different protests had been reported elsewhere within the nation.
Hindu teams say there have been 1000’s of assaults towards Hindus since early August, when the secular authorities of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown and Hasina fled the nation following a student-led rebellion. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel peace laureate named to guide an interim authorities after Hasina’s downfall, says these figures have been exaggerated.
Hindus make up about 8 per cent of the nation’s practically 170 million folks, whereas Muslims are about 91 per cent.
The nation’s influential minority group Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council has stated there have been greater than 2,000 assaults on Hindus since August 4, because the interim authorities has struggled to revive order.
United Nations human rights officers and different rights teams have expressed concern over human rights within the nation below Yunus.
Hindus and different minority communities say the interim authorities hasn’t adequately protected them and that hard-line Islamists have gotten more and more influential since Hasina’s ouster.
The problem has reached past Bangladesh, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi voicing concern over stories of assaults.
Whereas the administration of United States President Joe Biden has stated it’s monitoring Bangladesh’s human rights points since Hasina’s ouster, US presidential candidate Donald Trump has condemned what he described as “barbaric” violence towards Hindus, Christians, and different minorities in Bangladesh.
In a publish on X, he stated: “I strongly condemn the barbaric violence towards Hindus, Christians, and different minorities who’re getting attacked and looted by mobs in Bangladesh, which stays in a complete state of chaos.” Hindu activists have been staging protest rallies within the capital, Dhaka, and elsewhere since August to press a set of eight calls for together with a regulation to guard minorities, a ministry for minorities and a tribunal to prosecute acts of oppression towards minorities. Additionally they search a five-day vacation for his or her largest pageant, the Durga Puja.
Friday’s protest in Chattogram was swiftly organised after sedition expenses had been filed Wednesday towards 19 Hindu leaders, together with distinguished priest Chandan Kumar Dhar, over an October 25 rally in that metropolis. Police arrested two of the leaders, angering Hindus.
The costs stem from an occasion wherein a gaggle of rally-goers allegedly positioned a saffron flag above the Bangladesh flag on a pillar, which was thought-about disrespecting the nationwide flag.
Hindu neighborhood leaders say the circumstances are politically motivated and demanded Thursday that they be withdrawn inside 72 hours. One other Hindu rally was deliberate for Saturday in Dhaka.
Individually, supporters of Hasina’s Awami League social gathering and its allied Jatiya Occasion have stated additionally they have been focused since Hasina’s ouster. Jatiya’s headquarters was vandalised and set on fireplace late Thursday.
On Friday, Jatiya Occasion chair G M Quader stated his supporters would proceed to carry rallies to demand their rights regardless of risking their lives. He stated they might maintain a rally Saturday on the social gathering headquarters in Dhaka to protest value hikes of commodities, and what they name false expenses towards their leaders and activists.
Later Friday, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police introduced it was banning any rallies close to the Jatiya Occasion’s headquarters. Hours after the police resolution, the social gathering stated it postponed their rally to indicate respect to the regulation and a brand new date for the rally could be introduced quickly.
The police resolution got here after a scholar group strongly criticised the police administration for initially granting permission for the rally, and threatened to dam it.
