Violence in Bangladesh after Hasina’s ouster
On August 5th, within just a few hours, the scenario of Bangladesh changed dramatically. Amidst a student movement, the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to leave the country, leading to a shift in the scenario. From the night of August 5th, various places of the country witnessed several incidents of attack upon the Awami League leaders as well as the minority community people. This is not a new experience for the minority community of Bangladesh, since 1971 this section has been seeing this in most of the political changes in the country. In the anti-liberation section, fundamentalists and Islamic political parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami, and Hefazat-e-Islami are accused of these occurrences.
Leaders of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council told the international media including Reuters and others that immediately after the fall of the Hasina about 50 out of 64 districts of the country observed communal attacks, especially on the Hindu people. Homes, businesses, and temples of the community were come under attack in these districts. Quoting a government official of Thankurgaon District, Reuters reported that 700-800 Hindus tried to flee to India around August 7 evening after some of their houses were attacked and looted. The same thing also happened in different border areas.
In a press conference on August 9, the unity council leaders alleged that thousands of Hindu families have become impoverished and many temples have been attacked and burned. A large number of women have faced assaults, and there have been murders in several places. Not only the Hindu people but also other minorities have also suffered during this period.
The organization revealed an open letter to the Chief of The Interim government Dr. Muhammad Yunus describing the current situation. It urged him to take immediate effective action to stop all kinds of violence upon the minority people. In that letter, they gave primary data on the attacks and said that minority people of 52 districts witnessed the attacks immediately after the fall of the Hasina government.
In protest of these attacks, the minority community held large rallies in several places, including Dhaka and Chattogram. Amid widespread criticism both at home and abroad, Dr. Yunus recently visited the Dhakeshwari Temple in the capital and assured the Hindu community that the situation would improve. However, despite the Chief Advisor’s visit, community leaders have stated that the fear among Hindus has not yet subsided.
When asked about the attack, leaders of the minority community expressed some surprise and said that initially, the movement was about reforming the quota system, and many students from the minority community participated equally in the movement. But after the movement, their homes and temples are being attacked like past. This raises the question of who is behind these attacks. Although the leaders of the minority community did not directly name anyone, they mentioned, on the condition of anonymity, that as before, there is direct and indirect involvement of Jamaat and BNP leaders and activists in these incidents.
The immediate past ruling party and its chief Sheikh Hasina have been alleging that Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP are instigating the movement from behind to turn it to the step down the government. However, the student leaders of the movement denied the allegation and said that they had no connection with the then-opposition. Nevertheless, during the movement, the activists vandalized several sculptures of the Liberation War, Mujib, and other people who were involved with the cultural revolution in different areas of the country, raising questions about their political thought and identity. If we relate all of these, it would be clear that the activists who are involved with vandalism, are undoubtedly connected with the fundamentalist and anti-liberation force of the country.
Is the USA behind the scenario?
After the fall of the Awami League government, there has been widespread discussion that the United States played a significant role in this political shift. One of the main reasons for this discussion is the growing distance between the governments of these two countries over the past several years. Hasina and her party made significant accusations against the United States, claiming that it orchestrated the plan to remove her from power.
In April last year, while speaking in the Bangladesh Parliament, Hasina said, “The US can overthrow the government in any country, particularly Muslim countries.” Now the question is why the tensions between Bangladesh and the United States escalated. If you look back to the tenure of the Hasina, will get a picture that the government of the two countries was not in friendly mode. Though the two governments claimed they were in good bilateral relations, there was a distance between the two countries. The bilateral relationship became worse when the US government imposed sanctions upon the top six officials of the Rapid Action Battalion in 2021. It has been continued till the last general election that was held this January. Before the election, the US officials and the then ambassador in Bangladesh held several meetings with political parties and the ruling party and tried to put pressure upon the government for participatory polls. But the then government refused to follow their guideline and hold the election according to the constitution.
When the tension was growing, On December 15, 2023, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at a press briefing said that if Sheikh Hasina were to come to power in the upcoming election (held on January 7, 2024), the US would use all its resources to overthrow her government. In May of this year, during a 14-party meeting, Hasina made a shocking accusation about a purported plot to create a “Christian State like East Timor” using territory from Bangladesh and Myanmar. Though she did not disclose the name of the country, it was all but apparent that she was talking about the US government. She said `a white man’ proposed to build an airbase in Bangladesh. But later the US government denied the allegation and said it has no plan to set up any airbase in Bangladesh.
After various political calculations, the Sheikh Hasina government had to step down in the face of student protests. But has this debate with the United States been resolved? The government that has already been formed in Bangladesh is entirely supported by the United States. The person placed as the head of this government, Dr. Yunus, is known as a friend of America. It can now be said without a doubt that the relationship between the current government and the United States will be better than that of the Awami League government.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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