AA Edit | New Dhaka govt must instil confidence in the minorities

Members of the minority communities, particularly among 13 million Hindus, have faced at least 200 incidents in 52 districts spread all over Bangladesh since Sheikh Hasina’s government fell on August 5. Demonstrations all over the world by Bangladeshi Hindus over the weekend, including in London, Washington, Toronto and other capitals highlighted the horrendous plight they faced from rampaging mobs, which perhaps comprised not students so much as members of ideologically radicalised groups like the Jamaat-e-Islami which made specific targeting.

Two Hindu organisations, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, aired the problems being faced by their community. As the interim government got to grips with setting the law and order machinery right as police forces began returning to patrolling duty in Dhaka and elsewhere, Yunus made a passionate plea to students to protect Hindu, Christian and Buddhist families from harm while unequivocally condemning the attacks on them.

The silence of the Opposition in India regarding the plight of the Hindus across the border reflects on how polarised politics has got in this country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was justified in pointing out to the caretaker ‘PM’ Yunus how insecure the Hindus and other minority groups of people of Bangladesh were feeling. After the riots, some Hindus have become targets of extortionist gangs, emboldened by the radical Jamaat being freed from the restrictions placed on them by the Sheikh Hasina government.

The greatest fear in a post-Hasina political scene will be about the rise again of the Bangladesh Jamaat, the Islamist fundamentalist organisation founded in colonial times which played a minor role in Dhaka governments for decades until various secular groups called for it to be banned from politics. A ban from politics, enforced from 2013, continues to this day and the organisation was fully banned in one of the Sheikha Hasin government’s last acts by way of an executive fiat, on Aug.1

Adding intrigue to the events, beginning with student-led protests against job quotas for progeny of liberators which was infiltrated by radical elements, that led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina is her claim that the US was behind her run to safety in India. Irrespective of whether she or her son returns to Bangladesh to rally the Awami League as a political force when elections are called, the issue now has more to do with how the interim government performs towards instilling confidence in the people of a riot-hit country.

In signs of life mending somewhat in the aftermath of massive protests by millions of people and rallies by Hindus in good numbers, the week has begun with a return to normalcy with members of the Jamaat also calling for a meeting with the Hindus and other minority leaders in a bid to ease tensions. Bangladesh must believe, despite the many upheavals the country has gone through in 53 years since breaking away from Pakistan, that the safety of its own people, be they of any religion or political persuasion, is of primary importance.