Dhaka: The entire world is silently watching the ongoing Hindu genocide in Bangladesh. Since August 2024’s jihadist-backed coup to oust former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Hindus in Bangladesh have been confronting a relentless wave of terror. Attacks on homes, business establishments, looting, arson as well as theft and vandalism and desecration of deities and temples of religious minorities are regular occurrences under the interim administration headed by Muhammad Yunus. Bangladeshi Hindus, seen as allies of Hasina, face mounting threats, amidst anti-India sentiments.
In post-Hasina Bangladesh, the Yunus administration embraced Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI), a hardline extremist group, which calls for imposition of Sharia Law, segregation of women, persecution of Ahmadiyyas and Christian preachers while fully backing the death penalty for blasphemy.
Yunus’ administration has also given legitimacy to the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI). In May this year, Jashimuddin Rahmani of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) – also known as Ansar-al-Islam Bangladesh or Ansar Bangla – and Harun Izhar, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Bangladesh module chief, were seen in public as they led an anti-Awami League rally in Dhaka’s Shahbagh. Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT) openly called for the creation of a caliphate, urging action against India.
The Yunus regime targeted Bangladesh’s largest secular party using the Anti-Terrorism Act while globally designated terrorists now occupy the centre-stage. Bangladesh’s interim legal advisor Asif Nazrul met top LeT jihadist Harun Izhar on April 22, at the Law Ministry in Dhaka just hours after the horrendous Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
The current regime in Bangladesh is deliberately empowering Islamist-jihadist militants with ultra-communal ideologies targeting Hindus and other minorities in the country. In June, the Durga temple in Khilkhet area was demolished without any prior notice to the Hindu community. A Hindu home in Thakurtala village under Maheshkhali in Chittagong district was also set on fire by radical Islamists. The army, police and jihadis in Bangladesh are now actively engaged in ethnic cleansing. Hindus are being hunted, killed, raped and persecuted.
A prominent leader of Hindu community, Bhabesh Chandra Roy was allegedly abducted from his home and beaten to death in Dinajpur district in north Bangladesh on April 17, this year. Earlier this week, radical Islamists attacked a Hindu neighbourhood in Aldadpur Balapara village in Betgari union of Rangpur’s Gangachara over false blasphemy allegations. Before the attack, loudspeakers were used to gather people in the village.
The recent events follow a familiar, disturbing pattern. Just two months earlier, on May 22, radical Islamist goons attacked Hindu majority village of Dahar Moshiyahati in Abhaynagar of Jessore district and had used the same blasphemy pretext to burn down homes and displace dozens of Hindu families.
A calculated move by the mobs is visible targeting the homes of Hindus with the Jamaat and the National Citizens Party (NCP) leaders allegedly threatening to rape Hindu girls. As the international community remains silent, many Hindu families are preparing to flee to India out of fear.
In the absence of an elected government, as many as 1,930 individuals have been murdered in the first six months of this year.
Looking at the human rights violation figures of the interim administration from August 9, 2024 to June-2025, one can discern the shocking link of hatred and genocide taking place in Bangladesh.
Without due democratic constitutional process and too much secrecy, Yunus’ regime is fast becoming authoritarian.
According to the Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad (Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council-BHBCUC), at least 260 incidents of attacks including 28 murders, 20 incidents of violence against women including rape and 60 attacks on places of worship involving looting, vandalism and arson took place in the first six-months of this year. Forceful occupation of Hindu property, including houses, land and commercial spaces continues.
The interim administration’s total disregard for minority rights is evident in its exclusionary policies. The reform committees are devoid of Hindu and indigenous representation. The sinister agenda is reflected in the systematic repression. Yunus’ regime is deliberately provoking communal violence to deflect attention from major issues. From the Razakars of 1971 to the proxies of unelected Yunus in 2025, the goal is the same: to erase the Hindu community, destroy their identity.
Hindus have faced over 2,450 attacks since Hasina’s ouster in August 2024. In November 2024, nearly 30,000 Hindus protested in Chattogram urging the interim administration to offer protection from attacks and harassment. Protestors had pleaded with the interim administration to drop sedition charges against 19 Hindu leaders, who were arrested disrespecting the Bangladeshi flag during a previous protest in October last year.
Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, also known as Krishna Das Prabhu, a prominent Vaishnavite Hindu leader and a former ISKCON monk in Bangladesh who became the spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatani Jagaran Jote, has been jailed for months now in a sedition case. His bail petition has been rejected several times by the Chattogram court.
Last week, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a factsheet on Bangladesh, highlighting concerns about religious freedom in the country. The report gave key observations from the USCIRF delegations and highlighted the concerns of the religious minorities expressing fear in openly revealing their faith and the safety issues.
Several Bangladeshi citizens also want to see an end to the unelected, un-constitutional and illegitimate interim administration. Yunus, an incompetent and lost navigator, is pushing Bangladesh back into the troubled waters of jihadist fundamentalism.
(The writer is an expert on South Asia and Eurasia. He was formerly with Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. Views expressed are personal)
–IANS
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