Violence in Bangladesh stirs fear for country's Hindu minority

Hindu devotees pray at the Dhakeshwari National Temple in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

By Krutika Pathi, Al Emrun Garjon and Shonal Ganguly

Aug. 16, 2024 10:14 AM PT

KHULNA, Bangladesh — When a mass uprising forced Bangladesh’s longtime prime minister to step down and flee the country last week, a 65-year-old retired auditor who had worked for her political party feared for his life.

Arobinda Mohalder, who is part of Bangladesh’s Hindu minority, had just learned that a Hindu official working for the Awami League party in the country’s Khulna district was forced to flee his home when an angry mob set it on fire.

Mohalder and his wife quickly packed their clothes and passports and left their home to stay with a relative nearby. Later that evening, they found out their home had also been torched. The attackers first stole almost everything inside, including their television, refrigerator and two air conditioners.

Ever since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India, her supporters and associates have faced retaliatory attacks by mobs who have been met by little, if any, resistance from authorities. Members of the country’s Hindu minority feel the most vulnerable because they have traditionally backed the Awami League — seen as a secular party in the Muslim-majority nation — and because of a history of violence against them during previous upheavals.

Since Hasina was ousted on Aug. 5, there have been hundreds of attacks against Hindus and other religious minorities across much of the country, according to the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, a minority rights group that has been tracking incidents.

But experts caution it is hard to establish the extent of and motivations for the violence in this South Asian country of 170 million.

“There may be an element of minorities, particularly Hindus, being targeted due to their faith. But many Hindus had links to the Awami League, because historically it has been the party that protected minorities, so they may have been targeted for their political affiliations,” said Thomas Kean, a senior consultant on Bangladesh and Myanmar at the Crisis Group.

Hasina’s ouster was triggered by student-led protests against a quota system for government jobs. After clashes between protesters and government forces that led to hundreds of deaths, the movement grew into a broader rebellion against the leader and her government.

Mobs rampaged across the country after Hasina fled. Some of the violence was just criminal activity, Kean said, and “we shouldn’t assume they are all due to race or religion.”

The interim government put in place after Hasina’s ouster has condemned the attacks as “heinous” and said it was working with community leaders to ensure Hindus’ safety.

Hindus, who make up 8% of the population and are the largest minority group, “are shivering,” said Kajal Debnath, a vice president of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council. “They are closing their doors; they are not opening it without confirming who is knocking. Everybody [in the Hindu minority] … from the Dhaka capital to the remote villages are very scared.”

For many, the violence has evoked painful memories of Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan during which Hindus were targeted. Hindus were also attacked during the rise of Islamic groups in the 1990s, which Hasina stamped out.

Hindus have held large protests in the last week drawing thousands, demanding protection and condemning the recent spate of attacks.

Munni Ghosh, a Hindu housewife in Dhaka, said that attacks have grown since Hasina fled. “The reason is because she used to support us,” she said.

According to the minority groups organization, the attacks have included vandalizing and robbing of Hindu homes and businesses. A few temples have been damaged.

Details remain scarce, and police — whose members were also killed during recent violence — went on strike last week.

Some analysts say many of the attacks against Hindus are politically driven and reflect resentment against Hasina’s party.

Hindus have suffered, but most attacks have been “politically motivated because the Awami League has been targeted,” said Zillur Rahman, executive director of the Dhaka-based Center for Governance Studies.

In Mohalder’s village, dozens of other Hindu homes were unscathed. And his brother-in-law’s house, which is attached to his own, was not vandalized. A temple in their family compound was also untouched.

Mohalder believes he was targeted because of his ties to the Awami League. He doesn’t know when it will be safe for him to return home. “I want to go back, but goons looted my home, and because of that, I am scared.”

The issue has become increasingly sensitive for India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed concern Thursday over attacks.

A lack of investigations is fueling misinformation about the attacks, much of it coming from Indian news, social media and leaders, said Kean.

On Aug. 5, the day Hasina fled, a leader belonging to Modi’s party in West Bengal state, which borders Bangladesh, claimed without providing evidence that Hindus were being slaughtered. Television news channels ran headlines saying the attacks were “an act of genocide” and a “pogrom.” In another example, an Indian outlet claimed a temple had been set on fire, but Prothom Alo — a leading Bengali-language daily newspaper — found that was false, and reported that an Awami League office behind the temple had been burnt down.

Nahid Islam, one of the leading student protesters who was sworn in as a minister in the interim government last week, said the violence was more politically than religiously motivated and was meant to divide the country, but that the government would protect them.

“The responsible will be brought to justice. ... Be assured that the people of Bangladesh, the government of Bangladesh will stand by you.”

But for many Hindus, the biggest worry has been the lack of police since they went on strike in many parts of the country after Hasina fled.

“Anything can happen at any moment of time because there is no law and order,” Debnath said. “There is no place to complain. If they kill me, if they burn my house, there is no one I can complain to.”

This week, several police stations reopened and many people hope that will help ease tensions.

But while police were on strike, students and other volunteers in Dhaka and elsewhere banded together to patrol neighborhoods and keep watch, sometimes carrying sticks and umbrellas.

Tahsim Uzzaman, a 26-year-old student in Dhaka, is one volunteer who has been patrolling neighborhoods in the capital late at night.

“I no longer feel all right just sitting at home. I’ve been going out at night to guard places, especially in minority neighborhoods. We took bullets to reclaim our country. It shouldn’t be for nothing; we must now keep it safe for all,” he said.

Associated Press writers Garjon reported from Khulna, Bangladesh, and Pathi and Ganguly from Dhaka.