Bangladesh Hindus

PTI | Last Updated: Friday, December 30, 2016 - 21:22 Dhaka: According to a report made by  Bangladesh  Jatiya Hindu Mohajote (BJHM), at least 98 people from the  Hindu community  have been murdered and 357 others injured across the country till December 29 this year. Revealing the report at a press conference held in Dhaka Reporters` Unity today, BJHM executive president Sukrtity Mandal said the report was prepared based on reports published in different newspapers and their community sources, reports the Dhaka Tribune. The BJHM president also said that around 711 people either left the country or were threatened to leave the country, while 209 idols were damaged and 22 others were stolen. He further said 22 people of their community have also been missing while 38 people were kidnapped and eight others are in jail. According to United News of Bangladesh (UNB), 1,109 Hindus received death threat and attempts were made to kill 18 others during th...

Biplob Ghosal   | Last Updated: Saturday, December 3, 2016 - 17:24 zeenews.india.com Dhaka: At least 20 houses of Hindus were set on fire in Bochaganj upazila of  Dinajpur  in  Bangladesh  early Saturday. A report published in  The Daily Star  said that houses of seven families of Hindus were set on fire in Railway Colony. Fortunately, no one was injured as residents managed to escape on time. A person named Jewel was held by the locals, who allegedly set the fire. The residents claimed that Jewel had been threatening them ever since a scuffle broke out during Durga Puja celebrations earlier this year. In October this year, at least 15 Hindu temples in Bangladesh were vandalised over allegations of disrespect shown to Islam on Facebook, triggering panic among the minority community in the Muslim-majority nation. Temples in Brahmanbarhia district's Nasirnagar were vandalised on besides over 100 houses of Hindus in the area have al...

12:00 AM, October 31, 2016 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:24 AM, October 31, 2016 The Daily Star, Dhaka, Bangladesh Mayhem in B'baria Around a hundred houses, 5 Hindu temples vandalised, dozens injured in attack by religious zealots over a Facebook post A group of religious zealots yesterday carried out a synchronised attack on the Hindus in Brahmanbaria's Nasirnagar upazila, vandalising around 100 homes and at least five temples and looting valuables over a Facebook post “hurting Muslims' sentiment,” victims and police said. The attackers also beat up over 100 people of the minority community. The nearly two-hour long attack began around 12:00pm before police brought the situation under control after 2:00pm. The attackers ran amok through eight Hindu localities, including Kashipara, Daspara, Ghoshpara, Duttapara and Nomoshudropara, said Abdul Quader, officer-in-charge of Nasirnagar Police Station. “Around 150 to 200 locals attacked five temples...

Protests in Dhaka after Avijit Roy, whose blog championed liberal secular writing in the Muslim-majority nation, was attacked along with his wife. Bangladeshi secular activists take part in a torch-lit protest against the killing of Avijit Roy. Photograph: Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images A prominent American blogger of Bangladeshi origin has been hacked to death with machetes by unidentified assailants in Dhaka, after he allegedly received threats from Islamists. The body of Avijit Roy, founder of the Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog site – which champions liberal secular writing in the Muslim-majority nation – was found covered in blood after an attack that also left his wife critically wounded. “He died as he was brought to the hospital. His wife was also seriously wounded. She has lost a finger,” local police chief Sirajul Islam said. The couple were on a bicycle rickshaw, returning from a book fair, when two assailants stopped and dragged them on to the pavement b...

Four people including two women were stabbed when supporters of a Jamaat-e-Islami activist attacked the house of a Hindu family in Patgram upazila of Lalmonirhat this morning. They also set the house on fire during the attack, which was made in a bid to grab the land, reports our Lalmonirhat correspondent quoting police. Later, police arrested two people for their involvement in the attack and land grabbing. At least 25 miscreants led by Abul Hossain stormed into the house of one Pushpa Rani Sen at Shafirhat village around 9:30am for grabbing her two bighas of land, said Amiruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Patgram Police Station. Being resisted by the family members, the criminals torched their house and also stabbed four family members including Pushpa, the OC added. But locals rushed to the spot and extinguished the fire, he added. The attackers left the scene before police reached there. The injured — Pushpa, 68, and her two sons Shyamol Chandra Sen, 45, and Kamol Chandr...

DHAKA: A mob of nearly 3,000 attacked Hindu households and a temple in eastern Bangladesh after two youths from the community allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad on Facebook.  Police on Monday arrested 17 people, including the principal of Bagmara Madrasa, for the attack on the temple and over two dozen households at Homna in Comilla district, about 100km south east of Dhaka, last week.   "We so far arrested 17 people and some of them made confessional statements regarding the attack. A manhunt is under way to arrest the rest of the culprits," police chief of Homna, Aslam Shikdar said.   He said suspected mastermind of the attack Nazrul Islam is still on the run.   The local police chief said steps were under way to put the accused on trial on charges of attacking the Hindu households and the temple under a planned manner.   A makeshift police camp was setup at the village where the incident took place on April 26 following rumours tha...

Washington, D.C. (June 11, 2014) --The plight of religious minorities in Bangladesh took center stage on Capitol Hill yesterday, as the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) marked its 11th Annual D.C. Advocacy Days.  Hindu American delegates from around the country met with nearly 80 Congressional offices, asking them to support a bipartisan Congressional letter, spearheaded by Representatives Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and Aaron Schock (R-IL), that urges U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to make human rights and the protection of minorities in Bangladesh a priority in U.S. - Bangladesh relations.  Rep. Gabbard receiving HAF's Pride of the Community Award from Rishi Bhutada, Board member "Promoting a stable and democratic Bangladesh is important to U.S. economic, political and security interests in the South Asia region," wrote Reps. Gabbard and Schock in a message circulated to their colleagues earlier today. "Under domestic law, the Bangladesh government is obliged to...

On May 11, 2014, a team comprising almost 200 radical Muslim youths led by Bajlur Rahman Nayeem, local leader of Awami League at Niyamatpur sub-district within the district of Naogaon in Bangladesh, assailed a temple of the minority Hindu community located beside the crematorium there. It has been learnt, radicals came in motorbikes and also on foot and within a few minutes both temple and hallowed deity within it were defiled, destroyed and also razed to the ground sending a shudder of fear among Hindus living in the adjoining villages of Maharajpur, Kochpara, Kutubpur and Manpur. The Shiva temple was built up only a few months back and Kirtan used to happen in the temple premises daily in the evening. The attack took place while Hindus were preparing for Kirtan. The attack, as found later on, was an aggression to grab the Hindu property. As part of the attack, a few Hindus including Dayal Chandra Seal, Dwijen Chabdra Barman and Naren Karmakar were beaten mercilessly and they h...

The Daily Star, 20 April 2013 Unidentified criminals set a 200-year-old Hindu temple ablaze at Rajoir upazila in Madaripur in the wee hours [of April 19th]. Police and locals said miscreants torched the Kali Mandir at Mahendradi village sometime after midnight. Dadon Kanta, chairman of Haridashdi-Mahendradi upazila, suspects that Jamaat or BNP men are behind the attack. Police, meanwhile, arrested Haridashdi-Mahendradi union unit BNP President Abul Kalam Azad yesterday afternoon suspecting his involvement in the incident. Mofazzal Hossain, officer-in-charge of Rajoir Police Station, said they were yet to identify the attackers and that they were investigating the incident. Uttam Banerjee, president of the temple managing committee, said locals rushed to the spot on seeing the flames but the temple had been badly burnt before they could bring the flames under control. In December last year, miscreants vandalised some idols of the same temple, he added. Tem...

Lalmonirhat Hindus Shop looted by BCL, BNP men  HC orders arrest of land grabbers    Star Report Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/shop-looted-by-bcl-bnp-men-15025 A gang of local Chhatra League and BNP men attacked an electronics supply shop of a Hindu trader and looted goods worth around Tk 1 lakh at Kulaghat Bazar of Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila on Sunday night. The attackers also forced the businessman to sign a blank non-judicial stamp before fleeing the scene with the loot on an easy bike (battery-run three-wheeler), reports our Lalmonirhat correspondent. Police yesterday arrested three people at Kulaghat village of the upazila in connection with the attack. They are Farooque Hossain, 25, ward unit BCL joint secretary, and Kulaghat union unit BNP members Enamul Haque, 23, and Amzad Hossain, 30. Shop owner Nayan Chandra Roy, 30, of Kulaghat village said about six to seven miscreants, with sharp weapons in their hands, stormed his ...

Zee News Dhaka: Execution of a top leader of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami for war crimes in Bangladesh could lead to reprisal attacks on minority communities, especially Hindus, a leading human rights watchdog has warned.  Bangladesh executed Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Mollah, infamous as the "Butcher of Mirpur", for 1971 war crimes last night, making him the first politician to be hanged for such crimes.  "At this volatile time many people including minority Hindus are at risk of reprisal attacks....They are at particular risk of violence now the execution has been carried out," said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International's Bangladesh Researcher.  "Authorities must ensure that anyone at risk, especially Hindus are given the protection they need at this tense time. Whole villages were burned down in the violence against Hindus this year and no one has been brought to justice," he said in a statement. "It is also crucial tha...

BJP on Thursday urged Bangladesh to stop alleged atrocities on the minority Hindus living there during the ongoing political unrest over the forthcoming general elections on December 5. A seven-member delegation of the BJP from West Bengal, including its president Rahul Sinha, met Bangladesh Deputy High Commissioner Abida Islam and submitted a memorandum. "The information we are getting from Bangladesh speak of attacks on the minority Hindus there. Along with the Hindus we are also receiving information about attacks on Christians and Buddhists," the memorandum said.   Alleging that the "atrocities on minorities in Bangladesh have taken an alarming proportion since last month", it said, "We respect Bangladesh's sovereignty but we are failing to understand why your country is not stopping them?"   "We have nothing to do with the political violence in that country, but that should not take a communal turn", Sinha ...

12 hurt in attack by 'Jamaat-Shibir men' S Dilip Roy, Lalmonirhat The Daily Star   A villager watches a shop vandalised and looted by Jamaat-Shibir activists at Ghoshpara village in Jongra union of Patgram upazila under Lalmonirhat district. The activists vandalised, torched and looted five shops and two houses of Hindus at the village yesterday, the third day of the main opposition BNP-led 18-party sponsored countrywide blockade programme. PHOTO: STAR     Hindus came under attack allegedly by activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir at Patgram upazila in Lalmonirhat for the second time in a month yesterday. The attackers beat up at least 12 women and children and torched and looted at least five shops and two houses at Ghoshpara village of Jongra union on the third day of the opposition-sponsored 71-hour blockade. The incident fuelled concerns over a fresh spell of attacks on the Hindus as men of the village have fled in fear of fur...

By Bhaskar Roy   It is about time that the United States Congress realized that the current political turmoil in Bangladesh may see a return of terrorism to Bangladesh.   Eradication of terrorism from the country was one of the top priorities of Sheikh Hasina when she took over prime ministership in 2009. She delivered on her promise. Bangladesh was fast becoming a new center of terrorism under the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) government. The Al Qaida was testing the grounds. The return of the Awami League led 14 party alliance government thwarted externally promoted and JEI spearheaded conspiracy to turn Bangladesh into a Wahabi Islamic country.   The Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs organized (November 20) a 90 minute hearing titled “Bangladesh in Turmoil : A Nation on the Brink”. An apt title for the subject, given the open threats the country is facing from its own constituents.   Representative Steve...