Over 1500 Hindu Temples & Homes Damaged by Muslim Mobs in Bangladesh During January to March of 2013

(CHAKRA) Extremist Muslim mobs  have attacked innocent Hindu temples, homes and shops of Hindus in four districts in Bangladesh. Since Jamaat leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee was handed down a death sentence for war crimes in February, dozens of hindu temples, houses and shops of non-muslim minorities across the country have been vandalized  torched and looted. Basudev Dhar, president of Greater Dhaka Puja Committee, yesterday said these communal attacks were demoralising many Hindu families. A local blogger published a picture of a 2 years old hindu boy chopped to death by Jamma-E- Islamic supporters  at Noakhali in Bangladesh – see here. These terrifying events have been largely ignored by international news and media agencies.

Bangladesh’s giant English news media – the Daily Star reported the following in an article called Hindus attacked afresh in 4 dists on March 20th, 2013:

{ In Netrakona, rioters vandalised Hari Mandir in Bobahala village under sadar upazila, damaging seven idols.

Temple priest Mithun Chand, said, “I returned home around 11:00pm [Monday] keeping the Mandir under lock and key. “The next morning, I found the temple vandalised.” 

Also on Monday night, vandals damaged four idols of Hindu goddesses at Kripamoyee Kali Mandir under Sripur upazila in Gazipur. Amir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Sripur Police Station, said, “The temple, situated on the premises of the house of schoolteacher Shupendru Chandra Das, was vandalised sometime at night. The attackers took away the heads of the deities.” }

Upon receiving continued reports of widespread anti-Hindu violence, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) called upon the U.S. State Department and international community to urgently address the escalating crisis in Bangladesh. According to local Hindu community leaders, over 50 temples and 1,500 Hindu homes have been either damaged or destroyed by Muslim mobs since late January. The latest violence began when the first of three Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) leaders was convicted for committing war crimes during the country’s 1971 War of Independence from Pakistan. JeI is widely believed to have instigated the current spate of violence and a local Jamaat official, Alamgir Kabir Chowdhury, was arrested last Thursday for inciting attacks on Hindus in the southern district of Chittagong.

“Despite the recent arrest of Chowdhury, Jamaat and Islami Chhatra Shibir activists continue to attack the Hindu community in Bangladesh with impunity,” said Samir Kalra, Esq., HAF’s Director and Senior Human Rights Fellow. “The government’s failure to adequately protect religious minorities from ongoing attacks or rehabilitate those already victimized by the violence is unacceptable.”

Media accounts indicated that several Buddhist villages and temples had also been targeted by Islamic extremists. JeI supporters reportedly set off bombs and torched dozens of vehicles in at least four neighborhoods in the capital city of Dhaka, allegedly aimed at causing panic amongst ordinary Bangladeshi citizens.

“These latest attacks are not unique, but rather part of a larger historical pattern of violence against religious minorities and secular Bangladeshis by Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliates,” said Jay Kansara, HAF’s Washington, D.C. based Associate Director. “From 1971 to the present, JeI leaders have systematically orchestrated and engaged in attacks on non-Muslims and liberal Bengalis in their quest to create a theocratic Islamic state in Bangladesh.”