Hundreds of people marched in the Bangladeshi capital on Saturday to demand protection for Hindus and other minorities, who they say have faced violence and threats since the ouster of autocratic Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina’s downfall in a student-led uprising in August prompted a wave of reprisals against Hindus, who were seen as unsympathetic supporters of her rule.
The caretaker government that replaced him, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, acknowledged and condemned the attacks on Hindus, but said that in many cases they were motivated by politics rather than religion.
There have been regular protests in the months since with claims of the attacks continuing and calls for action from Yunus’s administration, an “advisory council” tasked with implementing democratic reforms and holding new elections.
“It is extremely regrettable that the advisory council does not acknowledge the sufferings suffered by minorities,” Hindu civic leader Charu Chandra Das Brahmachari told AFP.
“I have seen atrocities against them – their temples, businesses and homes.”
Protest organizers have urged the interim government to bring in a law to protect minorities and mandate a minimum share of minority representation in the government, among other demands.
Tensions have risen with the filing of sedition charges this week against 19 people who took part in an earlier minority rights rally in the port city of Chittagong.
The group was accused of disrespecting the Bangladeshi national flag by flying the saffron flag – a color symbolic of the Hindu faith – over the Bangladeshi national flag.
“Flaming our leaders on false charges like treason has made us suspicious of the government’s intentions,” protest member Chiranjan Goswami told AFP.
Hindus are the largest minority community in mostly Muslim Bangladesh, making up about eight percent of the population.
Attacks on Sufi shrines have also been reported, with Islamists suspected of trying to curb alternative expressions of the Muslim faith.
Saturday’s demonstration came a day after 10,000 people attended a similar rally in Chittagong.
Minority leaders have promised more protests in the coming weeks.
Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to neighboring India in August as protesters flooded the streets of Dhaka, marking a dramatic end to her harsh rule.
His government was accused of massive human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of his political opponents during his 15-year rule.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
