People take part in a protest march against the atrocities on religious minorities in Bangladesh, in Jammu. File.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Indigenous communities as much as religious minorities, primarily Hindus, in Bangladesh have been under attack since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, a report of the Commonwealth All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) has said.
The group headed by British MP Andrew Rosindell said it has received evidence that raises questions about the efficacy of the interim regime led by Professor Muhammad Yunus. It said there is an urgent need to end the culture of “using the law as a political weapon”, and that human rights and the rule of law need to be upheld.
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It also said there is evidence emerging that hardline Islamists are becoming increasingly politically influential and visible since the fall of the Awami League government.
Citing various reports and testaments from minority rights groups and affected individuals, the APPG flagged the atrocities committed by the “illegal plain settlers and Bangladesh Army” in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), inhabited mostly by indigenous communities, who account for 1.8% of the country’s population.
The report said the Global Association for Indigenous Peoples of the CHT providedwritten evidence to the APPG’s inquiry. It said assaults on indigenous people were organised between September 19 and October 1 in several areas of the CHT after “an illegal settler was murdered by his own community” members.
The report said a total of 142 houses, shops and other business establishments, properties and Buddhist temples of indigenous people were set ablaze, destroyed, and looted by the plain settlers, apart from leaving 148 people injured. Such was the extent of the assaults that Buddhist monks cancelled a major religious ceremony because of the lack of security.
It said previous governments in Bangladesh were often charged by groups such as Amnesty International with human rights abuses and illegal activities. “However, the evidence we have received is clear that the lack of law and order and settlers and the army have used the instability to step up attacks,” it added.
High-profile women targeted
The APPG report said Dhaka-based human rights organisation Manabadhikar Shongskriti Foundation provided written evidence on five people killed and 619 others injured in political attacks in September.
The month also saw 53 incidents of mob lynching, attacks on 12 shrines, and six extrajudicial killings in Bangladesh, it said.
The report cited submissions by other organisations and testaments from 100 individuals from the Bengali diaspora to stress the grimness of the situation. “We received considerable written evidence from individuals suggesting that some of these attacks are being undertaken by Islamic militants… some have been targeted at high-profile women with professional positions,” it said.
From documents submitted by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, the APPG said 57 incidents from August 22 to October 12 included reports of two rapes, three abductions, five killings, and 47 incidents of physical harassment, vandalism, arson attacks, robberies, theft, intimidation on Hindus and Buddhists.
“A total of 1,705 families have been directly impacted by 2,010 incidents of communal violence in 68 districts and metropolitan areas out of the 76 in Bangladesh. Among those affected, 157 families had both their homes and businesses attacked, looted, vandalised, and set on fire,” the report said.
The report also said the Khulna Division saw the highest number of cases of communal violence, where four women were raped, including one who is speech-impaired.
Published – December 10, 2024 10:20 pm IST
