Bangladesh communal violence not new, over 3600 incidents targeting Hindus since 2013

Banglesh has been showed by multiple episodes of communal violence since last week. While persecution of minorities, particularly Hindus, have been occurring in country since its formation in 1971, recent violence has rekindled fears in hearts of hundreds of thousands of residents. Notably, Hindus constitute roughly nine per cent of Banglesh's total population of over 170 million. 

Earlier on Wednesday, footage of Quran being placed at foot of Goddess Durga in Cumilla emerged online. clip triggered members of Muslim community to take out processions calling out desecration of ir holy text. Soon violence broke out in region with people vandalising multiple pandals and attacking Hindus. 

Aino Salish Kendra (ASK), a Bangleshi human rights organization estimates over 3,600 attacks targeting Hindus have taken place in Banglesh since 2013. In 2001, after BNP leer Khaleda Zia was reappointed as country’s Prime Minister, her supporters unleashed a campaign of violence against Hindus. A later probe by Banglesh’s judicial committee concluded that over 18,000 incidents of major crime were documented. ditionally, over a thousand Hindu women were subjected to rape, as reported by Sunday Guardian Live. 

Five years later, in 2016, Jogeshwar Roy, a 55-year-old Hindu priest was beheed by Islamic militants in norrn part of country. attack was claimed by Islamic State, which as per Bangleshi ministration is non-existent in country. Later BBC reported that ISIS soldiers used ‘light weapons’ for killing. 

Or communities targetted 

Notably, Hindus are not only community being targeted in Banglesh. In October 2015, Kunio Hoshi, a 66-year-old Japanese man was shot thrice in his he in remote village of Rangpur. According to various media outlets, Hoshi h migrated to Banglesh to make money and improve his living conditions. Just a year later, Maung Shue U Chak, a 75-year-old Buddhist monk as killed in Bandarban district. ISIS claimed responsibility for both attacks. ditionally, many LGBTQ rights activists have been hacked to death including Xulhaz Mannan- editor of Banglesh’s first LGBTQ med magazine- and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy- a popular activist. 

Image: AP