Dhaka: Thousands of minority Hindu community members staged massive protest rallies in Bangladesh’s capital and the north-eastern port city of Chattagram on Saturday, the second consecutive day, demanding protection amid nationwide vandalism that saw attacks on temples and their households and businesses.
Demanding special tribunals to expedite trials of those who persecute the minorities, allocation of 10 per cent parliamentary seats for the minorities, and enactment of a minority protection law among others, the Hindu demonstrators’ rally blocked traffic for over three hours at Shahbagh in the central part of Dhaka.
Thousands of Muslim protestors, including students, also joined them here expressing solidarity for the cause of minorities, who have faced the brunt of the violence and devastation after Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled to India on Monday.
Several Hindu temples, households and businesses have been vandalised, and at least two Hindu leaders affiliated with former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party have been killed in the violence since then.
Media reports have flagged more and more cases of violence against minorities, including the massive vandalism and destruction at popular folk band Joler Gaan’s frontman Rahul Ananda’s residence on Monday, prompting the singer and his family to go into hiding.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad, a prominent organisation advocating for minority rights, issued an open letter to Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus, detailing 205 incidents of persecution across 52 districts since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, according to The Dhaka Tribune newspaper.
On Saturday, the protestors put out an eight-point charter of demands, which includes establishing special tribunals to expedite trials for those who have persecuted minorities, compensation of victims and immediate enactment of a minority protection law.
Earlier on Friday, they rallied at the same venue with a four-point demand including the formation of a ministry for minority communities, establishment of a minority protection commission, formulation and implementation of strict laws to prevent all kinds of attacks against minorities and allocation of 10 per cent parliamentary seats for the minorities.
The protestors carried banners that had strong slogans such as ‘Save Minorities,’ ‘We will not leave this country,’ ‘None of us are free until all of us are free,’ and ‘Who are you? Who am I? Bengali, Bengali!’
They demanded the newly installed interim government of Nobel laureate Professor Yunus take urgent steps for the security of Hindu and other minority communities and called on the people, media and authorities to support them.
Social media posts showed that in some areas, for the past several days, students, including madrassa students, have been guarding Hindu temples and their households across the country amid reports of a police force almost dysfunctional since August 5.
On Thursday, Yunus assumed charge of the interim government in line with the demand of the students and in his first address to the nation from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, said restoring law and order in the country would be his first priority.
He repeated the message soon after he was sworn in on the same evening as the Chief Adviser along with 16 other advisers, equivalent to prime minister and ministers respectively. Retired army man, Brigadier Shakhawat Hossain was entrusted with the charge of the Home Ministry as the adviser.
Parishad president Nirmal Rosario presented the letter (to Yunus) at the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) as he said, “We stay up all night guarding our homes and temples. I have never witnessed such events in my life. We demand that the administration restore communal harmony in the country.”
The open letter acknowledged Dr Yunus as “a symbol of a new era,” marked by significant student and public movements aimed at building an equal society.
However, it also expressed profound sorrow and concern over the violent actions of certain groups against minorities, which have marred these achievements, the Dhaka Tribune said.
