Bangladesh: Violence against Hindus, Buddhist & Other Minorities

The terrible story of the Hindus in Bangladesh began with the 1947 genocide. It reached a pinnacle during the Bangladesh Liberation War when about three million Hindus had been slaughtered in one of the century’s largest genocides, which continues to this day.

Over the years, thousands of Hindu shops have been plundered. Hundreds of Hindu business people have been killed. Acres of land belonging to Hindus have been forcefully occupied. Innumerable Hindu temples have been vandalised. Targeted killings of men, abduction of girls and women with intent to rape and murder have been principal tactics of fundamental Islamists. These fundamentalists primarily belong to the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, its student wings and other radical Islamists, Jihadi groups, political parties and associations active in the region. As a result, thousands of Hindu families have been forced to flee Bangladesh.

Since decades, Islamic indoctrination and radicalisation in Bangladesh have been a worry for minorities. Several Hindu families have been falsely accused of insulting Islam. Such accusations have often tragically resulted in looting and plundering of Hindu shops and households.  Two notable examples of jihadi violence based on made-up blasphemy accusations were Brahmanbaria (2016) and Thakurpara (2017). Moreover, the law-and-order agencies of the country have repeatedly failed to take requisite measures to bring peace and stability, indicating their appeasement of the majority Islamic community.

Over the last seventy years, the number of Hindus in Bangladesh has been on decline. Figure 1 depicts Bangladeshi population demography trends in percentage based on the Ministry of Planning data and the Bureau of Statistics, Government of Bangladesh.

As per data from the Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajote’s annual report released in 2020, the following figures (2, 3, 4) detail the atrocities against Hindus in the country.

Similarly, recent anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh by Islamic mobs (primarily members of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh) started on Wednesday, October 13, 2021. It was just hours after falsified images of a copy of the Quran in the lap of Lord Hanuman’s idol at a Durga Puja pandal (makeshift Hindu celebratory place of worship) in Cumilla district were circulated over Internet.

Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing (Islami Chhatra Shibir) members have reportedly committed the act. Subsequently, on the dreadful night of October 13, 2021, Muslim mobs stormed the pandal, accusing Hindus of blasphemy and setting off a chain of pre-planned attacks on Hindu pandals and temples across Bangladesh.

Update*: On October 20, 2021, one thirty-five-year-old Iqbal Hossain, son of Nur Ahmed Alam from the Sujanagar area in Comilla, was identified as the individual who placed the Quran at the pandal.

Bangladesh: Violence against Hindus

Timeline

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Cumilla, Chittagong division of Bangladesh

On the day of Maha Ashtami, a sacred day for Hindus, thirty-five-year-old Iqbal Hossain, entered the Nanuar Dighir Par Durga Mandir in Cumilla district of Bangladesh and placed a copy of the Quran in the lap of Hindu God Hanuman’s idol. As per local district officials, the individual took photos of the scene before fleeing. 

The initial attacks commenced in the evening and were planned, orchestrated by local units of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student-wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir.

Over four hundred (400) Jamaat-e-Islami Islamists attacked Hindu men, women and children, torched more than twenty Hindu houses, Durga Puja pandals, and vandalised temples around the area.

Chittagong, Chittagong division

• In Chittagong, the iconic Bura Kali temple in Banshkhali district was attacked along with several other smaller temples.

Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong division

• In Cox’s Bazar, a Puja pandal in Kachharaimura Sheelpara was attacked and Hindu were households vandalised in Mognama.

Chandpur, Chittagong division

• In Chandpur, violent Islamist mob spread communal violence, attacked Puja pandals at Lakshmi Narayan Akhara temple in Hajiganj. Multiple deaths were reported.

Lakshmipur, Chittagong division

• In Lakshmipur, a violent Islamist mob attacked two temples in Ramgati and Ramganj districts.

Noakhali, Chittagong division  

• In Noakhali, a Puja pandal was vandalised by Jamaat-e-Islami mob late at night.

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Cumilla, Chittagong division  

• Violence continued in Cumilla and other parts of Bangladesh. Puja pandals set up on the banks of Nanua Dighi (in Cumilla district) were vandalised, idols burnt and broken. As per reports from local news agencies, a total of nine (9) Puja pandals were razed to the ground.

Ghazipur, Dhaka division  

• In Ghazipur, a group of Islamists armed with sticks vandalised idols at Kashimpur’s Radha Gobinda Temple. Paschim Para and Pal Para temples were also attacked the same night.

Bandarban, Chittagong division  

• In Bandarban, there was a morning attack on peaceful Hindu devotees. Islamist mobs stormed the Central Hari Mandir in Bandarban’s Lama upazila, leading to violence and destruction of Hindu property. When the police intervened to save the Hindu devotees from the violent mob, around fifty police personnel were attacked and subsequently injured in the attack. 

Khulna, Khulna division 

• At around 7:00 p.m. local time, Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) retrieved 18 crude bombs from main gate of Rupsa Maha Shashan, which contains a Hindu Kali temple. The role of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student-wing Islami Chhatra Shibir again resurfaced during investigations.

Friday, October 15, 2021

Chittagong, Chittagong division  

• After the Juma prayers (Friday prayers) hundreds of Islamists marched out of the Shahi Jama Masjid and attacked Hindus at the Puja venue at Anderkilla. Soon after the incident, they dispersed from the site amidst inaction by the Bangladeshi police.

Noakhali, Chittagong division  

• An innocent Hindu devotee was butchered in Noakhali’s Begumganj upazila after an Islamic mob attacked Hindu residences. According to ISKCON authorities, a 500-strong mob first vandalised a Durga Puja pandal adjacent to the temple before attacking the devotees in the ISKCON temple.

Barisal, Barisal division  

• In Barisal, jihadi mobs vandalised three Hindu temples late in the night at Gournadi upazila.

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Munshiganj, Dhaka division 

• In early hours of October 16, Islamic radicals vandalised six idols of Hindu gods and goddesses at a Kali temple in Sirajdikhan upazila, Munshiganj. 

Feni, Chittagong division  

• Following an ‘Asr prayers’, an Islamist procession begins in front of the Feni Central Bara Jame Mosque. Islamic radicals disfigured and robbed two Hindu temples and adjoining Hindu homes.

Noakhali, Chittagong division  

• In early hours of October 16, the body of a 20-year-old, Pranto Das, was discovered in a pond near the ISKCON temple in Begumganj Upazila’s Chaumuhani.  As per Kishor Ray, the president of the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Unity Council’s Noakhali branch. Pranto was killed by Jihadis during Friday’s temple attacks.

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Rangpur, Rangpur division  

• Radical Islamists looted and set fire to Hindu homes in a village in Rangpur’s Pirganj upazila in the middle of the night after.

Monday, October 18, 2021

Rangpur, Rangpur Division of Bangladesh

• Radical Islamists set ablaze sixty-five (65) Hindu homes. According to local union Parishad Chairman Md Sadequl Islam,
  “The attackers were members of the Jamaat-e-local Islami’s units and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir.”

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Cumilla, Chittagong division  

• In the villages of Bihar Mandal, Fultala, Debidwar, Cumilla, radical Islamists attacked a local temple and vandalised Hindu idols.

• Bangladesh police identified 35 year-old, Iqbal Hossain as the perpetrator of the Cumilla Quran incident, which propelled country-wide attacks on Hindu devotees and citizens.

Bangladesh: Violence against Hindus

Observations

In a series of targeted attacks on Hindus by various Islamic groups in Bangladesh during the week October 13, 2021 until October 20, 2021 the following have been observed:

• Two (2) innocent Hindus were mercilessly killed by Islamist radicals.

• More than one hundred fifty (150) Hindu homes were set on fire,

• One hundred one (101) Hindu temples were vandalized and,  

• One hundred eighty-one (181) pandals were destroyed by communal violence instigated by Islamist radicals.

• Hindu women and girls have reported rapes.

• Hundreds of Hindus and Muslims were injured.  

• Thousands of Hindu businesses and shops closed, looted or set ablaze across Bangladesh.

References   

1)     On Oct 14^th, 2021, police detained Fayez Uddin, the person who initially posted the video on social media, and are questioning him for information, which will be cross-checked. So far, 43 people have been detained, DIG Hossain said. Police are on alert in those areas outside Comilla that also saw violence and cases will be prepared over each incident. 

2)     As many as 450 people have been arrested in the past five days over the attacks on puja venues, temples, Hindu homes and businesses, and for spreading rumours on social media amid the Durga Puja, the largest festival of Hindus.

3)     Tensions in the country escalated on Oct 13^th, 2021 after widely circulated footage on social media alleged an incident of blasphemy during the Durga Puja celebrations in the eastern district of Cumilla.

4)     In a video footage shared by BHUC (Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council), it could be seen that a temple was set on fire by the Islamist mob while the firemen tried to extinguish it. Idols kept within the temple premises were also charred in the arson attack. 

5)     Miscreants set afire around 20 houses of Hindu community in Pirganj upazila, Rangpur amid the ongoing violence and security measures of law enforcers. At least 40 people were injured in Feni.

6)     Anti-Hindu violence spread to more than a dozen districts across Bangladesh, including, Noakhali, Chandpur, Cox’s Bazaar, Chattogram, Chapainawabganj, Pabna, Moulvibazara and Kurigram.  

7)     Media claimed – There are more than 3,000 pandals in Bangladesh observing Durga Puja at present.

8)     At least 20 houses were completely burnt in Majhipara’s Jelepolli at Ramnathpur Union in the attack that was carried out late on Sunday (Oct 17^th, 2021). According to the local Union Parishad chairman, some 65 houses were torched during the attack.

9)     The attackers torched a passenger vehicle at Kalipal, hurled crude bombs, vandalised a fire truck and attacked Hindu temples such as JoyKali, Jagannathbari, Kalibari Temple and Gaziganj Ashram. Reportedly, the President of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, Shukdeb Nath Tapan, was attacked by the Islamist mob near the Joykali temple.

10)  At least 6 people have been killed during attacks in Chandpur, Chittagong, Noakhali, Feni and other areas.

11)  According to Bangla media – Temples, houses and businesses of the Hindu community came under attack at different places of the country. Many lives were also lost during the mayhem.

12)  According to Prothom Alo reports, members of the Hindu community were attacked in at least 10 districts of the country since last Wednesday following the Cumilla incident.

13)  According to Prothom Alo reports, members of the Hindu community were attacked in at least 10 districts of the country since last Wednesday following the Cumilla incident. 

14)  Dhaka Tribune reported – Videos emerged on the social media, which claimed to be of Pirganj, showed homes burning in a village and police clashing with attackers. Dhaka Tribune could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos. 

15)  “Police reached the spot soon after tensions mounted and stood guard around the home of the young man. We could save that house but attackers torched some 15 to 20 nearby houses,” Assistant Superintendent of Police Md Kamruzzaman told Dhaka Tribune.

16)  The Fire Service that the incident was reported around 9.50pm. Firefighting units from Pirganj, Mithapukur and Rangpur city rushed to put out the flames. They are at the scene until 3am on Monday. 

17)  Manik Lal Das, the president of temple governing committee of Kalipal Gaziganj Mohaprabor Ashram, alleged that a group of miscreants carried out the attack and vandalism in the Ashram on Saturday at around 8:00pm. They also set fire to a vehicle stationed in front of the temple.

18)  Terrible condition on Chaumuhani College Road in Noakhali of Bangladesh. Trishul, Mangala, Navadurga, Vijaya Pandel & Kotbari temples have been set on fire. Homes of Hindus are being attacked, vandalism is being set on fire. One temple after another is being set on fire.

19)  Chandan Rice Mill owner Chandra Nath Saha alleged that miscreants stormed into his shop and looted Tk 200,000 from the cashbox. They also dragged many commodities outside and set them afire. 

20)  International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) Acharya Founder AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad’s  sculpture is burnt in Noakhali, Bangladeshon Oct 15^th, 2021. 

21)  Oct 11^th, 2021 – Worshipers at the Tipu Sutal Route Sankhnidhi temple in Dhaka have erected idols on the streets and the World Hindu Federation Bangladesh Chapter has strongly condemned the attack on several people, including Sajan Mishra.

22)  A total of 9,525 people including unidentified ones were made accused in 28 cases filed over the incidents. A total of 229 people including the leaders of Jamaat and BNP have been arrested so far over the incidents. 

Latest update 

In a series of targeted attacks on Hindus.  From the week commencing October 13, 2021 till October 20, 2021, two (2) innocent Hindus have been mercilessly killed by Islamic radicals. More than one hundred fifty (150) Hindu homes have been set on fire, one hundred one (101) Hindu temples have been vandalized, and one hundred eighty-one (181) pandals (makeshift prayer halls) have been destroyed by violence. 

In addition, Hindu women and girls have reported rapes, hundreds have been injured, and thousands of Hindu businesses and shops have been closed, looted or set ablaze across Bangladesh.