Christians gather to pray for peace in Bangladesh in August 2024. provided to csi
Analysis by Anugrah Kumar
Bangladesh will hold general elections in February 2026, the first national vote since Sheikh Hasina’s government was ousted in a student-led uprising that promised to establish a “new” Bangladesh. However, as the Muslim-majority country prepares to vote, the interim government remains silent on rising violence against Christians and Hindus. The narrative of political reform has advanced without confronting the threats faced by religious minorities, who continue to endure attacks, intimidation and exclusion from the national conversation.
Interim government dismisses concerns over violence against religious minorities
Christians, like Hindus, have faced a surge in violence since Hasina of the Awami League party fled to India in August 2024. Churches in Dhaka have been targeted with crude bombs, including recent attacks at St. Mary’s Cathedral and Holy Rosary Church, as reported by The Catholic Herald. Prestigious Catholic schools such as Notre Dame College and Holy Cross College received anonymous threats accusing them of conversions. Church leaders have advised priests to cancel late-night services.
Yet the government has not responded with any urgency. In an October interview, interim leader Muhammad Yunus dismissed claims of anti-minority violence as “fake news.” He suggested the incidents were exaggerated or ordinary disputes, and accused India of weaponizing false claims to exert pressure on Bangladesh.
The denial is not grounded in facts. It reflects a political strategy to reject Delhi’s claims.
India supported Hasina for years in exchange for diplomatic and strategic gains and has framed her fall as the collapse of secularism, which is understood in South Asia as equal rights for all religious communities. This framing portrays Hasina as the only shield for minorities and uses that claim to question the legitimacy of the new political order in Dhaka. In response, the Yunus administration has dismissed legitimate concerns about minority safety as nothing more than Indian propaganda.
The administration’s deflection has come at a cost.
The bombs that exploded outside churches were not figments of geopolitics. The fear among Christian families is real.
Law enforcement has responded only after receiving pressure. Meetings with Christian leaders were reportedly held, and promises were made to secure Christmas celebrations. But these are short-term measures. There is no acknowledgement of the deeper pattern. The United Nations fact-finding team said in February that while 100 arrests had been made in connection with minority attacks, many perpetrators still enjoy impunity.
There is no national strategy. No statement from the top leadership. No clear signal that attacks will be punished. The silence appears calculated. Acknowledging the violence would mean confronting political actors who are now central to the post-Hasina order.
One of those actors is Jamaat-e-Islami.
Banned from electoral politics for over a decade, Jamaat has returned in alliance with the National Citizen Party (NCP), the party formed by student leaders of the 2024 uprising. Its comeback has been quiet but effective. Jamaat supporters now hold positions in public universities, civil institutions and parts of the interim administration.
At a rally in Suhrawardy Udyan in July 2025, Jamaat’s deputy leader Mujibur Rahman said Parliament should be governed by Islamic law and that man-made systems have no place. Executive council member ATM Azharul Islam echoed him, saying that only the laws of Allah could change the country’s future, as reported by New Age.
Jamaat’s constitution commits it to divine command, not democratic pluralism. Its leaders still cite the writings of Maududi, the South Asian Islamic thinker who founded the party in 1941 to establish a state governed by Shariah law. His political theology leaves no space for Christians, Hindus, Buddhists or secular Muslims.
Jamaat claims to oppose extremism, but its record shows otherwise. In 2020, activists from its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, were accused of slashing the veins of a rival party member. The party’s language has now softened, but its current aims and methods remain unclear.
Growing Islamist political influence threatens pluralism
This time, Jamaat is not acting alone. It is reportedly building a wider alliance with Islamist groups such as Khelafat-e-Majlish, Islami Andolon and Hefazat-e-Islam. These groups, once on the margins, now hold leverage. They are shaping electoral terms and inserting themselves into national debate.
Minorities are watching this shift with concern.
Even if Jamaat does not win a large share of seats, its growing presence is already reshaping the political field. According to polling data reported by The Daily Star, Jamaat now commands 26-29% support, just a few points behind the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Its public approval stands at 53%.
Alongside the election, a referendum will be held on the July Charter, a political declaration issued by the anti-Hasina student movement and allied parties. It calls for a new constitutional order, promising reforms to state institutions and a commitment to build an inclusive republic based on equality, dignity and justice. That promise has not been translated into action, however. The July Charter has no policy, no mechanism, no other pathway to achieve inclusion.
Civil society is still recovering. After years of surveillance under the Awami League, many activists remain cautious. The press is divided in its response. Most political actors are focused on electoral arithmetic. No major force has stepped forward to defend pluralism.
Crackdowns and impunity jeopardize hopes for democratic future
At the same time, the state has embraced a policy of crackdown and containment. In February 2025, the interim government launched “Operation Devil Hunt,” an ongoing security campaign to recover illegal weapons and prevent unrest. It followed violence in the Gazipur area, where student activists and civilians were attacked near the home of a former Awami League minister. Authorities and multiple reports attributed the assault to local residents and party loyalists.
Over 22,000 arrests were made in the first month, as part of the operation. In December, a second phase was launched, sweeping up over 1,000 more people. Critics say the campaign has disproportionately targeted opposition strongholds and minority areas, raising concerns about political misuse.
In March CSI warned the UN Human Rights Council that “the new authorities in Bangladesh have filed spurious charges against hundreds of leaders from religious minority groups,” some of whom were arrested and selectively denied bail. “The pattern of these charges and arrests strongly indicates an effort to suppress the ability of religious minority groups to organize and advocate for their own interests.”
This is how impunity takes hold.
It becomes ordinary to bomb a church and walk away. Ordinary to threaten a school and face no questions. Ordinary for politicians to call for Islamic law without explaining what it means for those who do not believe in it.
On December 19, a violent mob attacked Bangladesh’s two leading newspapers, The Daily Star and Prothom Alo, vandalizing multiple floors and setting fire to the lower levels of The Daily Star building in Dhaka as journalists remained trapped on the roof, fearing for their lives amid thick smoke. The attack followed public anger over the killing of activist Sharif Osman Hadi, which the newspapers said was exploited by certain groups to mobilize the violence. The incident also revealed the climate of impunity that enables organized mob attacks.
The upcoming February election is being sold as a break from authoritarianism and corruption. But for Christians in Bangladesh, the questions are more basic. Can they attend church without fear? Can they travel home for Christmas? Can their children go to school without being threatened?
If these concerns are not addressed, then no matter how “democratic” the transition may appear, the “new” Bangladesh will not be for everyone.
