Bangladesh: ‘There is no law and order. And Hindus are being targeted again’

A growth expert in the capital, Dhaka, awoke on Monday after Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country after a number of protests when his cousin called him in a panic.

Avirup Sarkar is a Bangladeshi Hindu, living in a country that is 90 % Muslim. His widowed cousin lives in a sprawling joint family house in a mixed neighbourhood in Netrokona, a district crisscrossed by rivers, about 100km ( 62 miles ) north from Dhaka.

” She sounded terrified. She said the property had been attacked and plundered by a mob”, Mr Sarkar, a social security consultant, told me on the phone from Dhaka.

His aunt said the crowd of about 100 citizens, armed with sticks, stormed the property, smashing furniture, Television, bathroom fixtures and doors. Before leaving, they took all the money and earrings. They did n’t assault any of the 18-odd residents, including half-a-dozen children belonging to seven families, that lived there.

” You persons are Awami League ancestors!” You are responsible for putting this land in terrible shape. Before departing with the treasure, the crowd warned the residents to leave the country.

Mr Sarkar told me that he was shocked, but not completely surprised by the event. He claims that Bangladesh’s Hindu minority are frequently attacked by competitors in a nation where Islam is the state religion and are primarily seen as followers of Sheikh Hasina’s liberal Awami League party.

After Ms Hasina fled the country, social media was flooded with reports of Hindu properties and temples being attacked. India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar told parliament on Tuesday: “What was particularly worrying was that minorities, their businesses and temples also came under attack at multiple locations. The full extent of this is still not clear.”

To avoid further vandalism, young Muslim organizations were likewise defending Hindu residences and temples.

” Bangladeshi Hindus are an easy goal”, Mr Sarkar told me. ” Every day the Awami League loses power, they are attacked”.

This was not the first moment his friend’s home was attacked, Mr Sarkar says. After a Hindu mob destroyed the Babri shrine in Ayodhya, India, in 1992, minority communities in Bangladesh were targeted. Mr Sarkar’s friend’s house was ransacked by a crowd.

In the decades that followed, Hindus have been the target of numerous spiritual problems. A Bangladeshi man rights party, Ain o Salish Kendra, reported at least 3, 679 attacks on the Hindu area between January 2013 and September 2021, including theft, fire and intended crime.

In 2021, following mob attacks on Hindu minority households and temples in Bangladesh during and after Durga Puja, the country’s biggest Hindu festival, rights group Amnesty International said: “Such repeated attacks against individuals, communal violence and destruction of the homes and places of worship of minorities in Bangladesh over the years show that the state has failed in its duty to protect minorities.”

On Monday, another users of Mr Sarkar’s home also faced the possibility of violence. His parents ‘ house in Kishoreganj, 120km from Dhaka, was spared because” we are a well-known home in the village and knew all”.

Mr Sarkar says his family, who runs a local university, received a phone call from her business partner, saying that people were making listings of properties to strike.

The mate then said,” Your brand is not on the record. But please get careful”.

Eventually, Mr Sarkar’s father, who had locked in the family, saw a small group congregating outside their metal wall.

” My father heard someone coming up to the crowd and telling them,’ Do n’t do anything here, not here’. The crowd dispersed”.

But some distance apart, in the Nogua region of Kishoreganj, reports emerged of Hindu families being looted.

” I heard 20-25 houses had been attacked it. The jewels on display at my Hindu sister’s gold store were looted, too. They may not crack or take away the tomb though”, Mr Sarkar said.

Some 200km northern of Dhaka, Mr Sarkar’s sister’s home in a village in Sherpur region was also on the top. A crowd looted a nearby Hindu house, despite her home’s escape from harm. The positive aspect of the assault was that local Muslims formed safe rings around Hindu temples and homes as they learned more about it.

” This has also happened all over Bangladesh. Muslims have likewise protected Hindu parameters”, says Mr Sarkar.

However, this is not the place points ended. As evening fell on Monday, a crowd began collecting beyond Mr Sarkar’s 10-storey house building in Dhaka, where he lives with his wife and newborn child. He believed they had searched for an Awami League chairman who resided in the same building.

” I saw the group trying to break into the building as I approached my sixth-floor ledge.” The gates were locked properly, so they could n’t enter. According to Mr. Sarkar, some park lots and glass panes had damage.

Again in Netrokona, Mr Sarkar’s aunt told him that the home feared more problems. He called an military friend and requested that a regular military de patrol the area.

” This is a terrible time. There is no law and order. And we are being targeted again”, he says.

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