One wonders why the Western media is being, by and large, dead silent over the ongoing criminal attacks on Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh under its new dispensation led by Muhammad Yunus!
There is near consensus across impartial observers the world over that the predicament of minorities has gotten worse in Bangladesh
over the years. The minorities, especially Hindus consisting mainly of Dalits and Tribals, have faced persecution in Bangladesh for a long. Because of this, their percentage in the country’s population has fallen from around 30 per cent to a mere seven.
In 2021, there were anti-Hindu attacks across Bangladesh during Durga Puja. The attacks took place just after fake news was circulated that a copy of the Quran had been found placed at the feet of the Hindu God Hanuman somewhere in the country’s Cumila District.
Since elected Prime Minister Sheik Hasina fled the country on August 5 last year, the attacks on minorities have increased ten-fold. The Hindus today have little civil rights in the country. The recent arrest of famous Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das in Bangladesh is a case in point. Even the Bangladesh court is hardly treating him in a “fair and transparent” manner.
Today, it is a reign of Islamist radicals in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Jamaat-i-Islami and Hizb-ut-Tahrir control the levers of power in the country. The HuT advocates the establishment of a caliphate with the ideology of pan-Islamism. The Bangladesh court had barred Jammat-e-Islami from participating in the General Elections. But now the Jamaat is back as a strong force in the country. The Yunus Cabinet has links such as Brigadier General M Sakhawat Hossain, AFM Khalid Hasan and Farooqui Azam.
Immediately after Hasina was ousted, the radical forces in the country prevailed over the current regime to grant bail to Mufti Jasimuddin, the chief of the al Qaeda-inspired Ansarullah Bangla Team. The Yunus regime silently watched as the radical elements broke into multiple jails and freed more than 1,500 prisoners, including terrorists.
The indifference of the Yunus regime towards the predicament of the country’s minorities is attributable to the support it has had of the Jamaat and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the country. Besides, the Yunus regime has had the support of Pakistan and the West, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom. Also, the Yunus government has had the support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Regrettably, however, the observers assert, a section of the Western media is rather defensive of the Bangla government’s indifference to the predicament of its minorities. Some of the recent reports in the New York Times portray accusations against the Yunus government in this regard as “ muddy.” They claim those who ousted the previous Hasina dispensation in Dhaka are now “rebuilding a Democracy.” They even accuse the Hasina government of running a programme to abduct dissidents and keep them in secret prisons.
It’s high time the international community took cognisance of the worsening plight of minorities in Bangladesh and intervened to defend them. The United Nations is supposed to be the international community’s best representative. It is never weary of preaching the gospels of pluralism and democracy. In harmony with what it professes, the UN must immediately condemn the ongoing attacks on the minorities in Bangladesh and take effective steps to stop them.
One would suggest that New Delhi intervene in the matter in a big way. History bears out the emergence of any radical Islamist regime in Dacca is sure to be detrimental to India’s secular interest. India is blessed with its highly professional military forces. They can handle any threat that seems to emerge from the Yunus regime in Dacca.
Needless to say, after Donald J Trump assumes the presidency of the United States in the coming days, New Delhi is likely to be in a much better position to reach out to the minorities in Bangladesh.US President-elect Trump has nominated Tulsi Gabbard as the next Director of Intelligence. Her heart bleeds for the Hindus the world over. Her counterparts in India might strike an appropriate coordination with her to combat atrocities against the minorities in Bangladesh.
