Christian Solidarity International (CSI) addressed the United National Human Rights Council on September 25 and called for action to stop the extremism and growing threats to religious minorities in Bangladesh.
“According to CSI’s sources, at least 47 attacks on Christian sites, including eleven churches, followed the overthrow of the country’s Awami League government,” said CSI’s Joel Veldkamp.
The New Delhi-based Rights and Risk Analysis Group reports that at least 1,090 attacks on religious minorities, including Hindus, Christians, Ahmadiyya Muslims, and Buddhists, have taken place since the government’s overthrow, he added.
These attacks have been attributed to Islamist groups. Among them are Jamaat-e-Islami, a political party whose militias participated in mass killings of Hindus and others during the war of independence, and Hizb ut-Tahrir – a transnational revolutionary organization which is officially banned in Bangladesh, and which seeks to establish a global Caliphate.
“CSI urges Bangladesh’s interim government to take decisive actions against all forms of extremism that threaten the democratic fabric and civil liberties in the country,” said Veldkamp.
CSI also called for ongoing monitoring by international bodies, such as the United Nations Human Rights Office, which currently has a fact-finding team in Dhaka at the request of the interim government.
“We emphasize the need for continuous international scrutiny to ensure that human rights are upheld,” Veldkamp concluded.
