Male, Jan 6 (IANS) The surge in Hindu killings across Bangladesh underscores a familiar pattern with violence against Hindu minorities intensifying whenever the state’s grip weakens. Hindu traders and small business owners are frequently targetted in the country because they are economically prominent yet socially vulnerable, a report said on Tuesday.
It added that their shops are located in public spaces, leaving them exposed. The Hindu communities also lack the political influence to push for prompt investigations in Bangladesh.
“The killing of Mani Chakraborty, a Hindu grocery trader in Narsingdi, is the sixth fatal attack on members of Bangladesh’s Hindu community in less than three weeks. His death occurred in a crowded market, yet the assailants escaped without identification. The pattern is becoming familiar. A community that has long lived at the margins of political attention is again absorbing the shock of a national transition that has unsettled the institutions meant to protect it,” a report in Maldives media outlet Kaafu news detailed.
“Bangladesh is navigating a rare political moment. The departure of Sheikh Hasina ended a long period of centralised authority. Her government was criticised for its authoritarian tendencies, but it maintained a disciplined security apparatus that responded quickly to communal unrest. The interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus has inherited a state that was built around a single political centre. Once that centre disappeared, the system struggled to function with coherence,” it stated.
According to the report, the absence of a defined chain of command poses the most immediate challenge.
“For years, policing in Bangladesh operated through a highly centralised structure. Officers were accustomed to receiving direct political signals from the top. The interim government has not yet established a stable mechanism for directing law enforcement. As a result, police units in many districts are operating with hesitation. They are unsure which political actors hold authority, and which decisions carry institutional backing,” it mentioned.
Highlighting the escalating atrocities against the minorities across Bangladesh, the report said the circumstances indicate not just a violent crime but also a breakdown in the state’s ability to protect its citizens. When six Hindu men are killed in 18 days, it signals that the perpetrators see the State as distracted and the consequences as unlikely.
“Bangladesh has endured political turbulence before. What makes the current moment distinct is the combination of institutional fragility and rising communal anxiety. The killing of Mani Chakraborty is not an isolated tragedy. It is a signal that the state is struggling to protect those who rely on it most,” the report noted
–IANS
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