The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), an entity of the United Nations, had been deliberately ignoring the plight of Hindus who have been suffering at the hands of Islamists in Bangladesh.
On 5th August this year, extremists masquerading as ‘student protesters’ ousted Sheikh Hasina as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Thereafter, Hindus and other religious minorities were left at the mercy of violent Muslim mobs.
Instead of documenting the atrocities committed against the vulnerable Hindus, OHCHR announced on 16th September this year that they are conducting an ‘independent and impartial investigation’ into human rights violations.
It revealed that the so-called independent probe was being done at the behest of the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government of Bangladesh, which coincidentally has been pandering to Islamists and anti-Hindu forces.
OHCHR clarified that its ‘impartial investigation’ is limited to the anti-Hasina protests and the ‘human rights violations’ occurring in the context of it between 1st July and 15th August.
Thus, the United Nations entity was able to skirt specific instances of violence against vulnerable Hindus, committed by the majority Muslim community.
OHCHR, which is known for mouthing platitudes about the ‘human rights’ situation in India, thus shrewdly avoided holding the interim government accountable.
“The fact-finding team is mandated to establish facts, identify responsibilities, analyze root causes, and make concrete recommendations for Bangladesh to address past human rights violations and prevent their recurrence,” it claimed in its announcement.
The ‘confidential nature’ of the fact-finding process further nullified any hopes of transparency and justice for the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh.
Attack on Hindus in Bangladesh since the fall of Dhaka
While the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had deliberately avoided documenting the plight of Bangladesh Hindus, OpIndia had been vetting and reporting cases of atrocities since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina.
There have been at least 205 attacks on Hindu temples, shops and businesses within 3 days of the fall of Dhaka.
We previously exposed how Muslim students have forced as many as 60 Hindu teachers, professors and government officials to resign from their positions.
Human rights activist and exiled Bangladeshi blogger, Asad Noor, has recently revealed that the minority community is now being coerced into joining ‘Jamaat-e-Islami’.
On 6th September, a procession of Hindu devotees carrying the idol of Lord Ganesha came under attack in the Kadam Mubarak area in Chittagong city of Bangladesh.
Ahead of the Durga Puja celebrations, a radical Muslim man named Yasin Mia vandalised the idols of Goddess Durga and other Hindu deities in Gouripur town in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh on 25th September.
In the latest series of attacks, idols of Goddess Durga and other Hindu deities were vandalised at the Rishipara Barwari Puja Mandap and the Manikadi Palpara Barwari Pujamandap on 28th September and 1st October respectively.
The attacks were carried out in Sujanagar upazila in Pabna district in Rajshahi Division of Bangladesh. While a total of 4 idols were defaced at the Rishipara Barwari Puja Mandap, another 5 Hindu idols were destroyed at the Manikadi Palpara Barwari Pujamandap.
On 3rd October, 7 idols of Hindu deities were destroyed at the Gopinath Jiur Akhara Durga Puja mandap in Kishoreganj, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh.
On 5th November, the Hindu community came under attack from police and law enforcement authorities in Hazari Goli in Chittagong city of Bangladesh.
On 29th November, a violent Muslim mob attacked Hindu minorities and vandalised 3 temples in Patharghata in Chittagong district of Bangladesh.
The Hindu religious sites that the Muslims targeted included the Shantaneshwari Matri Temple, the Shoni Temple, and Shantaneshwari Kalibari Temple. The attack took place immediately after the conclusion of Jumma Namaz.
On 30th November, a prominent Hindu journalist named Munni Saha was arrested by the police from Karwan Bazar in Dhaka city of Bangladesh.
A group of extremists attacked the Mahashmashan Kali Mata Mandir, vandalised 7 idols of deities and stole gold ornaments on 13th December 2024.
On 19th December, a Muslim man identified as Alal Uddin vandalised an idol at the Polashkanda Kali Temple and then attempted to create a fake alibi. The incident occurred in Haluaghat upazila in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh.
Another 37-year-old Muslim man identified as Azharul vandalised several idols of deities in Haluaghat Upazila in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh.
The recent arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das Prabhu and his aides, attempts at banning Hindu organisation ISKCON and stiffling Hindu protests with cases of ‘sedition’ highlight systematic persecution under the interim government of Muhammad Yunus.
There have been multiple instances of attacks on Hindus under the pretext of ‘blasphemy.’ The recent cases of Hridoy Pal, Utsab Mandal, Partha Biswas Pintu, Akash Das and Utsab Kumar Gian are shining examples of targeted persecution.
So far, there have been many attempts to downplay violence against Hindus as ‘fake‘, ‘exaggerated‘ or ‘politically motivated‘.
