Bangladesh minority leader demands action against atrocities

"In the upcoming election, we want to participate, but at the same time, they have to create the right conditions. That's why we talked about the challenges. These challenges must be overcome, involving the prime stakeholders: the Election Commission, government administration, and political parties. But they are not behaving properly. We have already declared that political parties must not just say they believe in the Liberation War, but must categorically affirm their commitment to its values and ensure proper protection of minorities, taking action against atrocities," This is our demand, and we want a free, fair, and credible election", Neem Chandra Bhowmik, President of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, told ANI in an interview.

"Bangladesh, is a country based on the values of the Liberation War and the implementation of these values. We know that in our Liberation War, we fought for equality, human dignity, and social justice. Based on this, a secular democratic constitution was established in 1972", he added.

Bhowmik noted how there are cases of persecution and oppression taking place in the country and gave a call for justice and action on them. He lamented the government's apathy towards the issue noting that even a commission has not been formed to address the grievances.

"We want justice, and we want action against these things. But the way the government is behaving, they are not recognizing the problem. They have not even formed a commission. Even with large-scale persecution leading to large-scale exodus, before 1971, our percentage was 20%, and now the government claims it is 10%. This large-scale exodus is due to discrimination, oppression, and persecution. The government has to recognize this. We were hoping that this government would form a commission for it, but they didn't, and they are even denying the facts", he said.

On Thursday, during the press conference organised ahead of the upcoming 13th national parliamentary elections, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council prepared a partial overview of cases of communal violence from January to December 2025.

In a statemen,t it was noted, "The total number of communal violence incidents stands at 522. Among these are: 61 incidents of murder (with 66 victims killed); 28 incidents of violence against women, including rape and gang rape; 95 incidents involving attacks on places of worship, idol vandalism, looting, and arson; 21 incidents of occupation or attempted occupation of land belonging to places of worship; 102 incidents of attacks, vandalism, looting, and arson targeting homes and business establishments; 38 incidents of abduction, extortion demands, and torture; 47 incidents involving attacks, death threats, and torture; 36 individuals subjected to torture and arrest on allegations of so-called religious blasphemy; 66 incidents of forcible occupation of homes, land, and business establishments; and 29 other incidents."

The statement slammed Yunus noting that how communalism was being redefined. "We wish to state in unequivocal terms: Does Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus intend to redefine "communalism" in a new way, suggesting that except for violence occurring solely at temples or within the premises of places of worship, no other incidents taking place in society and the state constitute communal violence? Among the 173 deaths mentioned above, only 1 murder has been identified by the government as a "communal killing." Even 58 Hindu women were victims of rape during this period, and these incidents have also been identified by the government as non-communal. We strongly condemn and protestagainst such an absurd definition of communalism. It should be noted that the current government has consistently denied the ongoing communal violence and, at times, has attempted to divert the issue of "communal violence" through irrational explanations in order to mislead both national and international communities. However, national and international human rights organisations and media outlets have, at various times, published reports on this issue and informed the public of the real situation."

Ahead of the upcoming elections, the statement placed demands for the election commission to create a level playing field and foster a positive environment so that religious and ethnic minority voters can go to polling centres without obstruction, prohibit use of religion and communalism in election campaigns, ensure religious places are prohibited from being used for election campaigning and that religious hate speech, statements, the spread of false rumors, or any such propaganda should be treated as punishable offenses. (ANI)