One million Hindu minorities vanished from Bangladesh in last decade. Is it a count down for a Hindu-less Bangladesh?
~ Upananda Brahmachari.
Attacks after attacks upon Hindu minorities in recent times
With a great danger posing to their existence as citizen of Bangladesh, the minority
Hindus have been kept under attack, allegedly by activists of
Jamaat-e-Islami and its students wing, in Patgram, northern Lalmonirhat
district, for the second time in the last month, mainstream
Bangladesh newspapers highlighted the matter all along. The first major
attack in the same district on Hindus in the recent turmoil in
Bangladesh, was made at in Satpatki Majhipara in Lalmonirhat on Nov 4, 2013.
In Patgram, the attackers beat up Hindu
women and children and torched and looted at least five shops and two
houses at Ghoshpara village on the third day of the opposition-sponsored
recently held 71-hour blockade, said the dailies quoting police and
eyewitnesses .
The incident fueled concerns over a fresh spell of attacks on the minority Hindus as men of the village have fled in fear.
Again if you consider the cases of last
month as reported by Sri Rabindranath Ghosh, a Hindu Human Rights
activist and an advocate of Bangladesh Supreme Court, you cant simply
imagine the present situation of Minority Hindus Bangladesh really.
The email as sent by Mr Ghosh to our mail box 0n 30th Nov, narrates the below:
“Hindu Deities (Murthi) broken/set on
fire by unknown perpetrators at Shahjadpur and Rangulnia Upazila of
both Serajgonj and Chittagong districts on 26th November, 2013 ( The
Daily Protom Alo dated 28.11.2013)
A sense of insecurity amongst the Hindu
communities at Rangunia and Shahjadpur prevailing,because their places
of worships and deities were broken, desecrated and set on fire by
unidentified perpetrators.More than 11 Hindu deities were broken on last
Tuesday to defame their religion. As a result the belongings of the
Temple were set ablaze.
It is alleged that “Uttaar Para Kali
Mondir” and” Hari Mondir” at Shahjadpur within the district of Serajgonj
are the oldest ( two hundred years old) situated. Side by side two
temples were attacked on Tuesday night and eleven statues of Hindu
deities were broken and set fire on the houses of Shebait –Sree Jowtish
Chandra Ghosh and Aynal
Hossain before they escaped. As soon as
the fire broke out neighbour came at the spot and tried to control the
fire from further extinguishing.
In Rangunia Upazila another Temple named
“Rajjwa Bhawan Shib Temple” at Rajanagar was attacked on the same night
on Tuesday by some unknown perpetrators, the belongings and utensils
were stolen and the temple was vandalized.
I, on behalf of Bangladesh Minority Watch
(BDMW) and Global Human Rights Defense (GHRD) enquired about the
situation. The Assistant Superintendent of Police, Shahjadpur Circle Md.
Zillur Rahman informed me, on query, over cell phone No.01713374036
said that a case number 20, dated 27.11.13 under section 295/297 of
Bangladesh penal code started but they could not arrest any
perpetrators. Md. Zillur also gave me to understand that only two Hindu
deities were broken not eleven, but the local people informed us that 11
deities were broken and damaged. But expressed inability to apprehend
the criminals to justice as their names are not mentioned in the F.I.R.
No accused has yet been apprehended.
Bangladesh Minority Watch also contacted
with Md. Waliullah Oli,Officer in Charge of Rangunia Police station at
Chittagong over his cell number 01713373645 who game me to understand
that a case has been recorded under section 295/336/224 of Bangladesh
Penal code without mentioning the names of the accused. No person has
yet been arrested.
Bangladesh Minority Watch is very much
concerned about the attack on religious places of Minority communities
at Shahjadpur and Rangunia and we also demand immediate arrest of the
perpetrators and they should be brought to book as per law.”
The email exactly reflected the agony and anxiety of Bangladeshi Hindus.
In Bonogram bazaar in Santhia upazila, about 40 kilometres from Pabna sadar, Hindus were attacked in Pabna on 2nd Nov, as ’Jamaat-BNP men’ used false Facebook post concoction for rampage upon frightened Hindu minorities.
The series of persecution upon Bangladeshi Hindu minorities by the majority Muslim persecutors are endless.
No reason or only reason to attack the minority to make a Hindu Less Bangladesh
For the case of Lalmonir Hat, the
minority leaders alleged that the villages had come under attack for ‘no
specific reason’. However, local union Parishad Chairman Ruhul Amin
Babul said, taking the advantage of countrywide blockade they attacked
the Hindus who do not belong to any political party. “They did so to
create panic in the area and use that to their advantage,” the chairman
concluded.
Another minority village also came under havoc where Hindus were allegedly attacked by BNP and Jamaat-Shibir men on October 27 in Shafinagar
under the same district, in the first day of the opposition-called
shutdown. The vandals beat 12 women as the males fled the scene.
Quoting police and eyewitnesses,
newspapers said about 200 to 250 Jamaat-Shibir activists led by Shibir
leader Rana Islam brought out a procession in the area and swooped on
Hindus’ shops and houses. A number of aggrieved villagers alleged that
some local Awami League men, too, were responsible for inciting the
violence.
The case of Bonogram bazaar in Santhia
upazila had an uniqueness of Islamic rumouring as it was leveled
blasphemy against an innocent minor Hindu boy. Was that a
‘fundamentalism without reason’?
But, for the cases of Serajgonj and
Chittagong, Sri Rabibdra Ghosh categorically stated over telephone that
the recent spate of communal violence arising out of the BNP-Awami
League political tussle, is nothing but a ‘definite conspiracy’, leading
to an end of Bangladesh Hindus very soon, if not checked.
The voice of Sri Ghosh seemed to me very
frightened and a matter of fact that Sri Ghsoh was attacked several
times by Muslims goons to stop his Hindu defense activities through
legal and rights movement.
While this is a reality for a Rights
activist and Advocate of Supreme Court, the common Hindu minorities of
Bangladesh have the only way to flee from their home and hearth under a
silent exodus.
In his article “Future Of The Hindus In Bangladesh“ written
in Sri Lanka Gurdian, Mr. Swadesh Roy, Executive Editor, the Daily
Janakantha, Dhaka, Bangladesh has hinted such trend of Hindus about to
leave Bangladesh.
But, if you talk about this trend of
exodus of Hindus from Bangladesh, no Govt authority is ready to accept
this truth. Whether it is Bangladesh Govt. or the authorities of India,
who are very apathetically sinner for this final countdown for
Hindu-less Bangladesh.
One million Hindu minorities have been vanished from Bangladesh in just last decade
If
you want to talk about the silent Hindu exodus from Bangladesh or the
Hindu genocide in Bangladesh, the others suspect the reason behind. So
far the Hindu minorities have been benefiting the political gain for
both the country Bangladesh and India. While these refugees or the
non-legalized Hindus coming from Bangladesh are treated by the
politicians as an instrumental of voting in West Bengal (even some
portions of Delhi and Mumbai also), in Bangladesh these minority Hindus
are treated as kaffir, jimmi and the resource for bare exploitation and
pleasure in the hands of majority Muslims there.
But, the scale of such exodus or the genocide have been recorded by very authenticate version, which cannot be denied.
As per Dr. Sabyasachi Ghosh-Dastidar’s book, ”Empire’s last casualty: Indian subcontinent’s vanishing Hindu and other minorities”s,
over three million Hindus have been killed in the process of
Islamisation in the area now known as Bangladesh (formerly East
Pakistan) since India was Partitioned in 1947. This loss of three
million lives remain suppressed from the world. This book claimed a
huge 49 Million Hindus Missing From Bangladesh Census due to Islamic
atrocities.
But, most recently, the Biggest Hindu
Genocide in modern-times has been exposed. 10 million Hindus were
massacred by Pakistan Army in Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
In his research book, ”The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide”, writer Gary
J Bass holds the truth that ahead of Bangladesh’s liberation in 1971,
the Pakistani Army systematically committed genocide of the Hindu
community in the then East Pakistan and the Nixon Administration kept a
blind eye to it. Read the rest of this entry »