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Violence against Religious Minorities

50,000 became victims this year: Report

Staff Correspondent
Religious minorities faced at least 1,792 incidents of violence, including 88 murders and 38 rapes, across the country in the last 11 months, finds a recent report.
Influential people and different political party men, mostly from the ruling Awami League, were involved in those incidents in which over 50,000 minorities and their institutions were victimised, it said.
Bangladesh Jatiyo Hindu Mohajote (BJHM), an NGO working for protecting rights of Hindus, prepared the report based on news published in different newspapers and social media between January 1 and November29.
BJHM unveiled the findings through a press conference at Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka.
The report found that at least 347 minorities were injured in various attacks and around 2,734 acres of land of the communities were grabbed.
Of the 38 rape victims, nine women were gang-raped and four killed after rape, said the report.
Besides, around 379 idols were vandalised while 24 minorities were forced to convert their religion, it added.
At the press conference, BJHM leaders said such violence is occurring repeatedly and the culture of impunity is responsible for it.
They demanded a ministry for "minority affairs" and a "minority commission" to protect their rights. They urged all political parties to pledge in this regard in the election manifestos.
Otherwise, they will boycott the 11th parliamentary election, they said.
BJHM General Secretary Gobinda Chandra Pramanik alleged that the AL-led government is yet to ensure punishment for the culprits who carried out widespread violence against the minorities after 2001. "Instead of that, they [AL] tried to earn political benefit through publicising the violence incidents across the globe," he said. "The situation of the minorities is getting worse... Our population is supposed to increase in an independent country, but it is reducing gradually,” said Gobinda.
"If such a situation continues, no Hindu will exist in the country within the next 20 years," he added.
"The current government |AL] uses us as their vote bank. But it will not happen this time. If you want to get our votes, you will have to promise to meet our demands," he further said.