The Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad (BHBCOP) and the Minority Unity Front have expressed anger over the ongoing reform process, including the Constitution, to eliminate all forms of discrimination while excluding religious and ethnic minorities and amid persistent attacks on lives and properties since the departure of the Awami League government.
From a press conference at the National Press Club on Thursday, the minority leaders alleged that the attackers are getting impunity because the government is denying the communal violence with a political tag and not bringing the real perpetrators to justice.
They lamented that without giving any importance to the incidents related to communal violence, the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government has adopted the strategy of denying the allegations as false, exaggerated, and fabricated.
These incidents include murder, torture of women, rape and gang rape, vandalism of religious places of worship, arrests on charges of blasphemy, forcible occupation of homes and businesses, attacks on minorities, forced resignations, etc.
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Presenting the statistics prepared based on news reports and internal sources, the BHBCOP reported a total of 2,442 incidents of violence against religious and ethnic minorities that occurred in 330 days, from August 4 to June 30.
The highest number of incidents of violence took place from August 4 to August 20 of last year, with 2,100 attacks on houses, business establishments, and temples.
In addition, 132 incidents of violence occurred from August 21 to December 31 of last year.
From the beginning of this year to June 30, at least 258 incidents of violence occurred.
During this period, there were 27 murders, 20 cases of torture/rape/gang rape of women, 59 cases of attacks, vandalism, looting, and arson on places of worship, 21 cases of arrest and torture on charges of alleged blasphemy, 87 cases of attacks, vandalism, looting, and arson on houses and businesses, 12 cases of forced occupation of houses, land, and businesses, four cases of physical torture and forced resignation, 12 cases of attacks and torture on indigenous people, and 16 cases of obstruction of religious ceremonies, kidnapping, and others.
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The minority leaders feared that this was a partial picture of the overall violence.
They mentioned several incidents that took place recently, including the burning of houses after looting all the belongings of 20 minority families in Dahor Moshihati village of Abhaynagar Upazila of Jashore, the rape of a Hindu woman in Muradnagar, Cumilla, and the release of her video on social media, the demolition of a temple with idols of various gods and goddesses by a government bulldozer in Khilkhet, Dhaka without notice, the lynching of salon businessman Paresh Chandra Shil and his son Bishnu Chandra Shil in Lalmonirhat on false charges of alleged blasphemy, and the harassment of Dr Kushal Baran Chakraborty at Chittagong University, and the cancellation of the bail of Chinmoy Krishna Brahmachari, the spokesperson of the Sammilita Sanatani Jagaran Jote, and his re-arrest in another case, are blatant examples of ongoing communalism.
Acting General Secretary of the Unity Council, Manindra Kumar Nath, read out a written statement at a press conference held at Abdus Salam Hall.
Nirmal Rosario, one of the presidents of the organisation, presided over the event. Present were one of the presidents, Professor Dr Neem Chandra Bhowmik, members of the presidium, Kajal Debnath, JL Bhowmik, members of the presidium, Ranjan Karmakar, executive general secretary of the minority Oikya Morcha, Palash Kanti Dey, president of the Rishi Panchayat Forum, Ramananda Das. The program was conducted by Organising Secretary Advocate Dipankar Ghosh.
Reforms sans minorities
The speakers said that the religious and ethnic minority communities had hoped that a separate minority commission would be formed to identify the ongoing discrimination and oppression against religious and ethnic minorities and recommend appropriate steps to end it.
The statement added: โBut we first noticed that no separate commission was formed for religious and ethnic minorities. In all the commissions that were formed later, no representatives from religious and ethnic minorities were appointed. Even in the Constitution Reform Commission, there is no minority representative.
โUnfortunately, the commissions did not feel the need to discuss the ongoing discrimination against minorities with any minority delegation. It is mentioned that even after sending several written proposals to the commission on behalf of the minority communities, they did not feel the need to discuss these issues with them.
โThrough these activities, according to official statistics, the state reform process is in its final stage, without taking into account the representation and participation of more than 10% of the religious and ethnic minority communities in Bangladesh.
โPolitical parties have also already expressed their views, which are in the process of being finalised. We, on behalf of the religious and ethnic minority communities, express our strong anger and protest against this process, and at the same time, we want to say that through this, a new dimension has been added to the ongoing discrimination and oppression of minorities, not challenging it, but sustaining it, which we never expected from the non-communal, secular, non-discriminatory, and humane state achieved through the Liberation War.โ
The BHBCOP also urged the religious and ethnic minorities to be united against communal violence, to establish rights and dignity, and to protect their existence.
Referring to the ongoing communal violence, the speakers said that after the change in the political landscape on August 5, 2024, through the anti-discrimination student-public movement, violence has been carried out on religious-ethnic minority communities across the country, which continues to this day.
In this context, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad, through a press conference organised on September 19, 2024, at Dhaka Reporters Unity, presented a partial list and a report containing the details of the 2010 communal violence incidents that took place across the country from August 4 to August 20, 2024.
In the said press conference, it was strongly demanded to immediately stop the communal violence, bring the miscreants involved in it under the law, arrest and try them, and ensure exemplary punishment, as well as to take steps to compensate and rehabilitate the victims and provide proper medical treatment to the injured.
โWe have observed with regret that the government, without giving any importance to the incidents related to communal violence, has adopted the strategy of denying the report raised by the Oikya Parishad as false, exaggerated, and fabricated.โ
However, the interim government admitted, in a press briefing on December 10, 2024, that several incidents of communal violence had occurred, that it had taken various steps to stop them, and that 70 people had already been arrested in 88 cases.
โWe have repeatedly said that no matter how the ongoing violence is explained, the Unity Council believes that since August 4, all attacks, vandalism, looting, arson, rape of women, murder and forced silent extortion, including all crimes committed against religious and ethnic minority communities, are the victims of all crimes.
โSuch communal violence against minorities is not only a criminal offense, but also a crime against humanity, and it is still ongoing. There is no visible initiative to break the culture of impunity and to identify the culprits and bring them to justice. This situation, on the one hand, encourages terrorists to commit such heinous acts, and on the other hand, it has become a major obstacle to the victims of torture and the establishment of the rule of law,โ the statement said.
Among others present at the press conference were Joint General Secretary Rabindra Nath Bose, Organising Secretary Padmavati Devi, Student Affairs Secretary Prantosh Acharya Shibu, President of Jubo Oikya Parishad Shimul Saha, Advisor to the Minority Rights Movement Mithun Bhattacharya Shuvo, Acting President of Chhatra Oikya Parishad Sajeeb Sarkar, and Acting General Secretary Dipankar Chandra Shil.
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