(Special article - Global Human Rights day)
HINDUS, FACING EXISTENTIAL ATTACKS IN BANGLADESH
By Dr. Richard L. Benkin
Pakistan’s 1951 census counted Hindus to
be a third of the East Pakistan population. Today, in that same
territory now known as Bangladesh, Hindus are about one in fifteen. That
is a tragic fact—that Hindus are disappearing in another ancestral land
of theirs. Two things make it even worse:
- That their
disappearance is the result of atrocities including murder, gang rape,
land seizures, child abduction, forced conversion, religious
desecration, and more; which continue to occur at an average rate of at
least one per week.
- Every
Bangladeshi government—from the first government under Sheikh Mujibar
Rahman through the current one under his daughter Sheikh Hasina
Wajed—has been complicit in these atrocities and in the deliberate
attempt to eliminate Hinduism from their nation.
One nine-day period in May 2012 saw a
Hindu community leader murdered in broad daylight, the abduction of a
child walking to a Hindufestival, and gang rapes of two Hindu women.
Four horrific actions in nine days andthe government took it as nine
normal days in Bangladesh. In July 2013 alone: Hindu human rights
advocate Rabindra Ghosh was attacked multiple times and harassed by an
Awami League MP; a Hindu college student was abducted and murdered so
his girlfriend could be forced to marry Muslims, and after she refused,
police arrested her and let the perpetrators go; Hindu land seizures by a
Member of Parliament were exposed, and the government protected the MP
allowing him to continue committing crimes while remaining in office;
police covered up massive attacks on Hindu communities that involved,
rape, looting, arson, and assault, and they also tried to extort
“protection money” from the Hindu communities. And these are only the
atrocities we confirmed with our limited resources and at least two
independent witnesses.
More disturbing news: Evidence keeps
coming to me about a disturbing trend that indicates how ingrained
anti-Hindu atrocities are in Bangladesh. For several years, Bangladesh
has seen an influx of Rohingya Muslims fleeing inter-religious conflict
in neighboring Myanmar. According to several credible and independent
sources, an unknown number of these refugees have joined with the
radical groups and engaged in anti-Hindu activities. If Bangladesh is
not actively supporting anti-Hindu ethnic cleansing, it is at the very
least enabling it by looking the other way when it happens ad sending
even its newest residents a message that such actions will go unpunished
in Bangladesh. Stay tuned for more information.
Imagine the horror of living under
constant threat, having friends and family members brutalized or worse.
Now imagine how much more horrifying it is to live like that knowing
that the rest of the world simply does not care, which it is like for
Hindus in Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi officials are so confident
that their crimes will go unnoticed that they do not even try to be
credible in their denials. Akaramul Qadar, the Bangladeshi ambassador to
the United States for instance, tried to tell me that the reason why
Hindus are disappearing from Bangladesh is voluntary: “They cannot find
suitable matches for their children [in Bangladesh] so they go to India
where there are more Hindus.” Bangladeshi Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan
Alamgir would not even acknowledge that Hindus are disappearing instead
implying to me that, as an American, I should mind my own business
because “33 people were killed in Connecticut,” reference to a criminal
act that the US government did prosecute.
That might be changing, however, and the change is coming from half way around the world.
That might be changing, however, and the change is coming from half way around the world.
The United States is one of the top
importers of Bangladeshi garments. In 2012, the US had a $4.4 billion
trade deficit with Bangladesh; through October of this year, the deficit
is on track to be even worse. Companies like Wal-Mart and all major
jeans makers buy heavily from Bangladesh. Several other countries from
Asia and Latin America export garments to the US and would love to grab a
bigger piece of the large US market; countries that would move in
quickly if the Bangladeshis were no longer competitive and not be ready
to cede their new market share if the Bangladeshis decide to do the
right thing. If discussions going on in Washington now bear fruit,
Bangladeshi garments will be harder to get and more expensive when
purchased unless that country stops it ethnic cleansing of Hindus. That
would be a serious blow to the current Bangladesh government that is
just clinging to power as next year’s election looms. That severe
economic blow could spell the end of its reign—and the Awami League
knows it.
Are the Bangladeshis reacting already?
For the past year, I have been following
the case of one young Hindu woman who was abducted when her family
refused demands by local Muslim thugs and a few government officials to
abandon their family land. When I was in the Bangladeshi capital of
Dhaka earlier this year, I met with her family, who told me about the
incident and the government’s complicity. They asked for my help and by
this time were not even interested in getting justice so long as their
daughter was returned to them unharmed. Thus far, the government had
turned a deaf ear to their pleas; and even after I submitted the
evidence they provided to the Home Minister—as he asked me to do—he
ignored it and the girl remained missing.
Recently, however, I received word from
associates inside Bangladesh who spoke with the young woman’s sister.
After we raised the issue, the case evidently came to the attention of
Sheikh Hasina. The family met with her, and she said she would direct
the local government to take action to retrieve the young woman. That is
particularly interesting because it suggests that even the Prime
Minister understood that the problem was complicity by the government;
that it would take nothing more than appropriate action to save the
woman. As is the modus operandi of the Bangladeshi government, words
never translated into action and the woman is still missing. While
Sheikh Hasina’s action is better than the inaction of the Home Minister
and the ridiculous prattling of the Ambassador; it is far from enough
and far too little for us to stop pressing at full speed with our
efforts. The government’s wish to appear civilized, however, could be
the beginning of a turning point in our struggle.
More initiatives are underway in the
United States, including a move to have individual localities recognize
the ethnic cleansing of Hindus and how the media and others have been
ignoring it. The first success came on October 1, 2013, when the Chicago
suburb of Mount Prospect did so, noting, “scant attention is being paid
to the plight of Bangladeshi Hindus who live each day in fear of
atrocities being committed against them for their religious beliefs.”
Ultimately, it is up to the Bangladeshi
government to choose between injustice and the radicals they fear or
justice for all citizens and the ideals that Bangladeshi voters want
them to have the courage to maintain.
[An
Appeal- Anyone wishing to help by contacting Members of the US Congress,
letting Bangladesh’s large customers like Wal-Mart and Levis that their
purchases support ethnic cleansing, or convincing their local
government to do as Mount Prospect did should feel free to contact me at
drrbenkin@comcast.net.]
(Author
is an American human rights activist fighting to defend Hindus in
Bangladesh. His book, A Quiet Case of Ethnic Cleansing: the Murder of
Bangladesh’s Hindus, is about to enter its second printing.)
Courtesy and News Bharati English
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