DHAKA: Tens of 1000’s of minority Hindus rallied Friday to demand that the interim authorities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh shield them from a wave of assaults and harassment and drop sedition instances in opposition to Hindu group leaders. About 30,000 Hindus demonstrated at a serious intersection within the southeastern metropolis of Chattogram chanting slogans demanding their rights whereas police and troopers guarded the realm. Different protests had been reported elsewhere within the nation.
Hindu teams say 1000’s of assaults in opposition to Hindus have occurred since early August when the secular authorities of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown and Hasina fled the nation following a student-led rebellion. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel peace laureate named to steer an interim authorities after Hasina’s downfall, says these figures have been exaggerated.
Hindus make up about 8% of the nation’s almost 170 million individuals, whereas Muslims are about 91%. The nation’s influential minority group Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council has stated that there have been greater than 2,000 assaults on Hindus since Aug 4. Hindus and different minority communities say the interim authorities hasn’t adequately protected them and that hardline Islamists have gotten more and more influential since Hasina’s ouster.
Hindu activists have been staging protest rallies within the capital, Dhaka, and elsewhere since August to press a set of eight calls for together with a legislation to guard minorities, a ministry for minorities and a tribunal to prosecute acts of oppression in opposition to minorities. Additionally they search a five-day vacation for his or her largest competition, the Durga Puja.
Friday’s protest in Chattogram was swiftly organised after sedition expenses had been filed Wednesday in opposition to 19 Hindu leaders, together with distinguished priest Chandan Kumar Dhar, over an Oct 25 rally in that metropolis. Police arrested two of the leaders, angering Hindus. The costs stem from an incident when a gaggle of rally-goers allegedly positioned a saffron flag above the Bangladesh flag on a pillar, which was thought-about disrespecting the nationwide flag.
Hindu group leaders say the instances are politically motivated and on Thursday demanded that they be withdrawn inside 72 hours. One other Hindu rally has been deliberate for Saturday in Dhaka. Individually, supporters of Hasina’s Awami League social gathering and its allied Jatiya Celebration have stated in addition they have been focused since Hasina’s ouster. The Jatiya Celebration’s headquarters was vandalised and set on fireplace late Thursday.
On Friday, Jatiya Chairman G M Quader stated his supporters would proceed to carry rallies to demand their rights regardless of risking their lives. He stated they might maintain a rally in Dhaka on Saturday to protest worth hikes of commodities, and what they name false expenses in opposition to their leaders and activists.
