Amid growing attacks, large march in Bangladesh for Hindus and other minorities

Dhaka:

Hundreds of people marched in Bangladesh’s capital on Saturday to demand protection for Hindus and other minorities who say they have suffered violence and threats since the ouster of autocratic Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Hasina’s ouster in a student-led uprising in August led to a series of reprisals against Hindus, who were seen as disproportionate supporters of her regime.

The interim government that replaced her, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, acknowledged and condemned the attacks on Hindus, but said in many cases they were motivated by politics rather than religion.

Regular protests in the months since have claimed the attacks are continuing and have demanded action from Yunus’ administration, an “advisory council” tasked with implementing democratic reforms and holding new elections.

“It is deeply regrettable that the council of councilors does not recognize the sufferings that the minorities have endured,” Hindu civic leader Charu Chandra Das Brahmachari told AFP.

“I witnessed the atrocities against them – their temples, businesses and homes.”

Protest organizers called on the caretaker government to introduce a law to protect minorities and impose a minimum quota of minority representation in government, among other demands.

Tensions were inflamed by the filing this week of sedition charges against 19 people who attended an earlier rally for minority rights in the port city of Chittagong.

The group was accused of disrespecting Bangladesh’s national flag by flying a saffron flag — the iconic color of the Hindu faith — to fly over it.

“The trial of our leaders on false charges like sedition has made us skeptical about the government’s intentions,” protester Chiranjan Goswami told AFP.

Hindus are the largest minority faith in predominantly Muslim Bangladesh, accounting for about eight percent of the population.

Attacks on Sufi shrines have also been reported, with suspicion falling on Islamists seeking to limit alternative expressions of the Muslim faith.

Saturday’s demonstration came a day after 10,000 people attended a similar rally in Chittagong.

Minority leaders have vowed to stage more protests in the coming weeks.

Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to neighboring India in August as protesters flooded the streets of Dhaka in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted rule.

Her government has been accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of political opponents during her 15-year rule.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)