New Delhi: Fear of police action in wake of fake cases and physical attacks by rising fundamentalist groups has forced minority leaders in Bangladesh to slow down efforts to form a political party. This comes amid targeted attacks on minorities, mostly Hindus, following the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
One of the significant organizations working in the field of minority rights, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCOP), which has so far limited itself to the role of a human rights organization, has been under intense pressure from its members and supporters to transform into a political entity.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, members supporting the idea of the organization’s transformation into a political front, said that efforts have slowed due to a series of fake police cases filed against prominent functionaries. These members, who requested anonymity due to fears of police action and threats from fundamentalist groups, mentioned that a decision in this matter might be made in December after assessing caretaker Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus’ actions and approach to controlling fundamentalist forces and allowing space for dissenting voices.
“Looking back, I think we delayed the decision of forming a political party. It should have happened when demands were emerging, and the situation was not as disturbed as it has been since the developments of August 5. Now, a few of us believe it is not possible to form a party given the hostile environment. However, internally, deliberations are still ongoing, and may be a decision will be announced in December. There are several issues we need to seriously consider—the primary being the false cases filed against our functionaries and the serious threat from religious fundamentalist groups that have become very strong in the last two months,” a senior member of the organization told The Sunday Guardian. According to sources, an example of how the Yunus administration is using the police for political purposes is evident in the two murder cases filed against Rana Dasgupta, the general secretary of the council. The first case was filed on July 19 at Jatrabari police station in Dhaka when Dasgupta was, in fact, out of Bangladesh. He was listed as accused number 22 in the case. Similarly, in the second case filed against him on August 5 at Mirpur Model police station, where he was listed as accused number 326, he was in Chittagong attending a public event.
Multiple similar cases have been filed against other functionaries, resulting in their refusal to participate in events or speak to national or international media.
Two senior members of the organization told The Sunday Guardian that while the number of attacks on Hindus has decreased in recent weeks, the violence has not ended completely.
“Two things are being protected and promoted by the present system—fundamentalism and anti-India sentiment. We are expecting that international pressure and criticism will force officials to ensure that these two issues do not turn into demons that cannot be controlled. If you ask local intelligence (National Security Intelligence), they will tell you that fundamentalist organizations and their members are working in full force now, which was not the case prior to August 5,” one functionary told The Sunday Guardian.
According to an investigation by BHBCOP, Bangladesh has witnessed at least 2,010 incidents of communal violence against religious minorities across 68 out of 76 districts and metropolitan areas between August 4 and August 20, leading to the deaths of nine people.
Emails sent to caretaker Prime Minister Mohammad Yunus for a response on these developments did not elicit a response by the time this report went to press.