People gather in front of the ransacked Awami League’s central office in the aftermath of the prime minister’s resignation, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Rights groups and diplomats in Bangladesh on Tuesday raised concerns at reports of attacks on minorities including Hindus, a day after the prime minister was ousted following mass protests.

Some businesses and homes owned by Hindus — a group seen by some in the Muslim-majority nation as having been close to ousted leader Sheikh Hasina — were attacked on Monday, witnesses said.

Police reported mobs launching revenge attacks on Hasina’s allies. Offices of Hasina’s Awami League party were torched and looted across the country, eyewitnesses told AFP.

“Houses and shops of minority people were attacked, vandalised and looted, at least 97 places on Monday and Tuesday,” Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, said in a statement.

The group said at least 10 Hindu temples were attacked by “miscreants” on Monday.

One Hindu man was beaten to death in Bangladesh’s southern Bagerhat district, said a hospital official who requested anonymity due to safety concerns.

“Such attacks on minorities are against the fundamental spirit of the anti-discrimination student movement,” said Transparency International Bangladesh head Iftekharuzzaman, who uses one name.

The United States embassy in Dhaka called for “calm”, in a post on social media platform X.

“We are concerned about reports of attacks on religious minorities and religious sites in Bangladesh,” it said, a message echoed by European Union diplomats.

EU heads of mission “are very concerned about incoming reports of multiple attacks against places of worship and members of religious, ethnic and other minorities in Bangladesh”, EU ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley posted on X.

“We urgently appeal to all parties to exercise restraint, reject communal violence and uphold the human rights of all Bangladeshis.”

Monday was the deadliest day of unrest since protests erupted in early July, with at least 122 people killed.

Some homes of the Ahmadis, a minority Muslim sect, were also torched by a mob on Monday, a local newspaper reported.

The house of celebrated Hindu musician Rahul Ananda – who last year met French President Emmanuel Macron when he visited Dhaka – was also torched.

Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar on Tuesday also said New Delhi was “monitoring the situation with regard to the status of minorities”.

He added that the government would “remain deeply concerned till law and order is visibly restored”.

With unrest and political turmoil rampant in the country, following the resignation of Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina, the people have sounded cries of ‘victory’. In an aggressive burst of joy, protesters joining from different parts of Dhaka were seen storming Ganabhaban (the Bangladesh prime minister’s residence), overturning furniture, smashing glass doors, and taking away different items. Many were even dancing and chanting slogans in the premises and elsewhere in Dhaka.

Various Awami League offices, including the residences of Awami League politicians and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, throughout Bangladesh were also attacked and looted.

Renowned Bangladeshi photographer who participated in the protests at Shahbagh, Dhaka, said that “Beautiful moments descended into Bangladesh” as Sheikh Hasina stepped down from her post.

The photos below capture some of these moments of “joy” after the former PM resigned and fled the country.

“Ms. Hasina, who landed at the Hindon airbase on August 5 in a C-130J military transport aircraft, hours after resigning as the prime minister, has been shifted to an unspecified location under tight security,” people in the know said. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s plan to travel to London has hit a roadblock over some “uncertainties” and she is unlikely to move out of India for the next couple of days, people familiar with the matter said on August 6.

“Ms. Hasina, who landed at the Hindon airbase on August 5 in a C-130J military transport aircraft, hours after resigning as the prime minister, has been shifted to an unspecified location under tight security,” they said. 

“The former Bangladesh Prime Minister, accompanied by her sister Sheikh Rehana, planned to leave for London from India to take temporary refuge but the option is not being pursued now. This is after the U.K. government indicated that she may not get legal protection against any possible probe into the massive violent protests in her country,” they said.

Bangladesh Protests live updates – August 6

“The Awami League leader planned to travel to London through India and her aides informed Indian authorities about it before she landed in Hindon,” they said.

Hasina decided to travel to London as Rehana’s daughter Tulip Siddiq is a member of the British Parliament. Tulip is economic secretary to the Treasury and Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate.

In a statement, British foreign secretary David Lammy said in London on August 5 that Bangladesh has seen unprecedented levels of violence and tragic loss of life in the last two weeks and people of the country “deserve a full and independent UN-led investigation into the events”.

They further added, “Hasina has apprised New Delhi about her possible future steps. It is also learnt that Hasina has family members in Finland as well and that is why she also contemplated leaving for the northern European country.”

While saying that Hasina’s travel plans have hit certain issues and she may stay in the country for the next couple of days, the people also described the situation as dynamic with no definitive path or clarity on the matter.

The 76-year-old who ruled the South Asian country with an iron fist for 15 years, resigned as the prime minister following the massive protests that initially began as an agitation against a job quota scheme but weeks later morphed into a mass movement demanding her ouster from power.

The controversial quota system provided for 30% reservations in civil services jobs for the families of veterans who fought the 1971 liberation war.

Hasina’s Awami League retained power in the parliamentary election in January that was boycotted by the opposition parties.

“The former Bangladesh prime minister left her official residence Ganabhavan in a military chopper to an airbase. From the airbase, she flew into Hindon in a C-130 military transport aircraft of the Bangladesh Air Force,” the sources said.