Around 400 properties belonging to religious minorities—mostly Hindus and Christians—came under attack on August 5-6, within 48 hours of the resignation and departure of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, according to the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council.
The attacks spanned roughly half of Bangladesh’s 64 districts, with incidents reported in at least 30 districts. At least two Hindus have been killed.
In the Chittagong Hill Tracts region, where Christians make up about four percent of the population, student leaders have established committees in each of the three districts to safeguard places of worship, including temples and churches, CSI has learned.
Since Hasina’s ouster, there has been a complete breakdown of law and order, with the police absent and unable to protect people’s lives and properties. This has led to a state of anarchy, forcing minorities to fend for themselves.
Opposition joins protests
The protests initially opposed the government’s policy of reserving 30 percent of government jobs for military veterans from the 1971 Liberation War and their children. But they widened out after over 200 people were killed in the government’s crackdown. At least 100 more protesters have subsequently been killed.
Opposition parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, as well as Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, a far-right Islamic coalition, joined the protests. Protestors also voiced concerns about increasing inequalities, job shortages post-COVID and following the Russia-Ukraine war, and Hasina’s authoritarian leadership style.
The army refused to follow Hasina’s orders to put down the protests, raising suspicions about its role, and prompting her to leave the country.
While Hasina’s party won re-election in a national vote in January, the vote was boycotted by the opposition, who demanded a neutral caretaker government to oversee the elections. Therefore, her administration’s legitimacy remained in question.
An interim government, led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus at the students’ behest, is now in place. The BNP is calling for fresh elections within three months.
Islam versus nationalism
Both the main opposition parties, the BNP and particularly Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, hold anti-India positions and maintain close ties with the Muslim world. Hasina, while being pro-India, has attempted to balance India’s influence with that of China.
In the broader political landscape of Bangladesh, the majority of people and political parties align with either religious nationalism, which emphasizes Islam as a unifying force, or Bengali nationalism, which centers on language and culture as cohesive elements.
Hasina’s Awami League holds the latter perspective. Consequently, parties and individuals who subscribe to religious nationalism tend to gravitate towards Pakistan and China, while those who embrace cultural nationalism align more closely with India and the West.
Role of Jamaat-e-Islami
Religious nationalists were naturally opposed to the 1971 Liberation War, during which India supported Bangladesh—then known as East Pakistan—in gaining independence from what is today known as Pakistan, and was formerly known as “West Pakistan.“
Jamaat-e-Islami was founded in 1941 in British colonial times. During the war of independence, it supported the Pakistani military, forming militias that participated in Pakistan’s genocidal campaign against Bengalis and Hindus.
Since 2013, the party has been banned from taking part in elections, but it has been allowed to carry out political activities. Under the previous Awami League administration, most of the leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami were jailed or executed over their role in the war.
In 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the ban on the party participating in elections.
In what seems to be a diversionary tactic or an attempt to garner support from neighboring countries, Sheikh Hasina recently alleged a conspiracy was afoot to create a Christian state in parts of Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the Kuki-Zo areas of Manipur, India. The prime minister also claimed a foreign entity had offered her support in return for permission to build a foreign airbase.
Anugrah Kumar
