Ronik Sharma
The ongoing protests over Bangladesh’s employment quota system have become violent against innocent Hindus of Bangladesh. Radical, fundamentalist Muslims of Bangladesh have incited violence against minority innocent Hindus. And these attacks on Hindu minority community members are not less than terrorist attacks. Such kind of attrocities on Hindu minority community of Bangladesh is totally “intolerable”. The situation is getting worse every day, and the innocent Hindu population in Bangladesh is becoming the soft target of Islamic extremist forces who have not only attacked and torched Hindu shrines, temples but also targeted innocent Hindu homes. In addition, Hindu homes and other businesses have been viciously attacked by gangs who not only steal property but also harm women and children in a violent manner. The initial purpose of these demonstrations was to oppose the Bangladeshi establishment in an employment quota system in Bangladesh, but they have since extended throughout the nation and are completely uncontrollable by the Bangladeshi establishment, resulting in widespread looting and rioting against minority community people. Sheikh Hasina has fled to India, and a stable administration, Government has not yet been established.
With attacks on the minority community, primarily targetting innocent Hindus, these violent protests took a new turn to target innocent minorities of Bangladesh. On social media, there are a tonne of videos showing Hindu-owned homes and other businesses being destroyed, temples being vandalised and set on fire. In Bangladesh, Hindus have endured years of persecution and persecution prior to this. Targetted practices against innocent Hindu community members include assaulting and removing them from their homes, stealing from shops, stores, coerced conversion to another religion, mistreating women, kidnapping, murder, and several other offences. Numerous incidents of vandalism and looting of Hindu homes, businesses, temples, and pandals have been reported number of times. Prior to this, numerous incidents of violence against Hindus and ISKCON and other temples had been reported in Bangladesh. In the recent incidents, the ISKCON temple was again targeted in Meherpur, Bangladesh, and was vandalised.
The fundamentalists and radicals have vandalised; the statues of Hindu gods, goddess Subhadra Devi, Balabhadra, and Lord Jagannath were completely shattered. The temple itself was set ablaze. How the priests who were present during the violence and the worshippers who came there saved their lives; otherwise, the fundamentalists would have killed them too. With the current affairs and situation that are now in Bangladesh, it appears that the country is also becoming more like Sri Lanka, and on a basic and religious level, things there are quickly becoming like in Pakistan. Because the control of power in Pakistan remains in the hands of fundamentalists and radicals. Now something similar is being seen in Bangladesh also. The biggest victims of this are innocent Hindu minority families whose videos are going viral on social media. The active role of the Pakistani radicals and fundamentalists is to persecute and coerce Hindu minorities into conversion; as a result, there are only very few Hindu families left in Pakistan. Same is the situation in Bangladesh; the Hindu population is declining rather than increasing in Bangladesh as well. This can be attributed to a variety of factors, the principal one being religious persecution of the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh. According to the present situation in Bangladesh, the Indian Government is vigilant and monitors violent incidents in Bangladesh based on the current state of affairs there and the overthrow of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Additionally, the crimes being committed in Bangladesh against Hindus and other minorities are being monitored by the Indian government as well. S Jaishankar, the foreign minister, has already voiced his concerns in Parliament of India on this Bangladesh’s matter. He claimed that attention is being paid to minorities’ protection in addition to their safety and security in Bangladesh. Border security forces have also been made aware of the current and alarming situation, even though they will continue to be worried about this until law and order is restored in Bangladesh.
Violence against the Hindu minority community in Bangladesh, selective attacks, target killing, raping women, and attacks on children of Hindus are not just a matter of religion. This is not just an issue of Hindus; it is a question of humanity. Because these Hindu community families are not only residents of Bangladesh but also the citizens of Bangladesh. Their houses, businesses, shrines, temples etc. are being looted and set on fire in their own country; they are being evicted from houses, property, land, shops, and everything. What could be a bigger crime than this? What could be a bigger atrocity than this? In many videos, victim Hindu minority families, including women and children, were seen appealing to the fundamentalists and radicals for safety. The Hindu families were seen begging for their and their Children’s lives, but the radicals were not stopping.
Rather, they are crossing all limits of cruelty. Humanity is also put to shame not only in Bangladesh but in the whole world. The government of India is primarily concerned about the attacks on the Hindu minority community in Bangladesh, but international organisations that address human rights issues are not only silent observers of these attacks on minorities and primarily on Hindus of Bangladesh, but they have completely stopped speaking about the “attacks on Hindus” that are occurring in Bangladesh, which is a matter of grave concern, which is not only the violations of human rights but also the safety and security of mankind. The Indian Government should also offer all additional measures of assistance and support to the innocent Hindu community in Bangladesh. If it is feasible, the government of India should also proceed with this issue if the families of the tortured innocent Hindus in Bangladesh need to be granted asylum in India.
(The author is an advocate by profession and working on Jammu and Kashmir affairs.)
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