DHAKA: On Friday, hundreds of people demonstrated against violence against the country’s minority Hindu population in the capital city of Bangladesh, following the resignation and flight of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina earlier this week.
Following Hasina’s resignation on Monday, Hindu houses, businesses, and temples in Bangladesh, a country with a majority of Muslims, were targeted, resulting in the death of a school teacher and at least 45 injuries.
Protesters stopped an intersection in the capital on Friday, chanting “who are we, Bengali Bengali” and calling for peace. Some of them were carrying placards requesting that minorities in Bangladesh be “saved.”
Hindus, who account for around 8% of Bangladesh’s 170 million inhabitants, have long backed Hasina’s Awami League party, which incited public ire following violent altercations between anti-quota demonstrators and security personnel last month.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council has asked Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist who assumed leadership as head of a caretaker administration on Thursday, for assistance, estimating that at least 52 of the nation’s 64 districts have been affected by communal violence since August 5.
The Council stated in an open statement on Friday that “minorities across the country are experiencing deep apprehension, anxiety, and uncertainty.”
The UN Secretary General’s office has declared that the violence in Bangladesh needs to be “tamped down,” stressing that it opposes any “racially based attacks” or “racially based incitement to violence.”
In an attempt to escape the bloodshed, thousands of Hindus from Bangladesh have been seeking to enter neighboring India.
In a message posted on X on Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also pleaded for the “safety and protection” of Hindus and the other minorities in Bangladesh.
Following his oath of office, Yunus declared in a televised speech that his government’s objective would be to guarantee “democracy, justice, human rights, and full freedom of fearless expression” for everybody.
