B'desh Hindus submit 8-point charter to Yunus regime, seek swift trials in persecution cases

The Hindu community in Bangladesh has submitted an eight-point charter to the interim government to safeguard their properties and physical well-being, alleging systematic persecution of minorities since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led regime.

The charter called for establishment of a special tribunal for swift trials in cases of persecution of minorities, including compensation and rehabilitation for victims; enactment of a minority protection law; creation of a ministry for minority affairs; laws to recover and protect debottar (gifted to a Hindu deity or idol) properties; five-day public holiday for Durga Puja and upgradation of Hindu, Buddhist and Christian welfare trusts to the status of foundations, according to people familiar with the matter.

Shree Charu Chandra Das Brahmachari, general secretary of Iskcon Bangladesh and Palash Kanti Dey, the head of a prominent Hindu organisation operating in Chattogram, alleged that the campaign against Iskcon was started by Islamist groups such as Hefazat-e-Islam, Jamaat-e-Islami and the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir from mid-September, using fake news circulated on social media platforms like Facebook.


Slogans urging Muslims to catch and slaughter every single Iskcon devotee and destroy every Iskcon temple were repeatedly heard during a protest rally at Anderkilla Shahe Jame Mosque Square in Chittagong on November 8, according to Iskcon functionaries. The campaign was designed to depict Iskcon as a "terrorist organisation", they claimed.

The 13 million-strong Hindu community in Bangladesh has reportedly faced a sharp increase in violence since the fall of the Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5, along with atrocities such as public humiliation, forced conversion, arrest and torture under fabricated charges, dismissal from government jobs and blacklisting from employment and business opportunities.