Demographic Layout:
According to the population census of 1991the percentage of different religious group in the population------
Vanishing Minority population:
In Bangladesh, hindu population was 28% in 1941; 22% in 1951, 18.5% in 1961; 13.5% in 1974; 12.2% in 1981 and 10.5% in 1991. Hindu population decreased by 8% from 1961 to 1991.
The vanishing minority population is understood from researching the census documents published the government. Fifty years ago in 1941, 28.3 per cent of the total population was minorities. The population of Hindu was 11.88 millions, while 588 thousand was other religious and ethnic minorities (Buddhist, Christian and animist). Evaluation of government statistics of 50 years, from 1941 to 1991, indicates a large drop in the figure for minorities. A comparative picture shows that the number of the Muslim majority increased 219.5 per cent while the Hindu community increased by 4.5 per cent.
If normal increase rate prevailed, the number of the Hindu community in this country would have been 32.5 million, but the Hindu population in Bangladesh stood at 12.5 million in 1991 Census (State of Human Rights, 1994). Therefore the missing population is 20 million.
Violation of Rights:
Limitations inherent within the political processes of the state, have subjected the minorities to different forms of violations of human rights. A few cases reported in the media are given below. It needs to be pointed out that not all cases are reported. Many of the people do not have access to the media and police. Often they are coerced or compelled not to report the cases. Besides, there is also a general perception among the minorities that the media is not sensitive to their plight, consequently their actual condition remains concealed. This report on violation is divided into two main sections. The first concerns the violation that has generally been taking place and the second focuses on pre-and post-election violence.
General violence:
The following acts of general violence were committed against the minority communities in Bangladesh during the year.
Land grabbing:
Nine cases of land grabbing from Hindus were reported by the media. These included instances of grabbing of cremation land sites in Panchbibi. To large tracts of lands in Langonband regarded as sacrosanct (Debottar). The court has intervened in some cases but the process has been slow and enforcement has been weak. This has left the minority community in a vulnerable state.
Later on these were appropriated by ruling party MPs. In Monthbaria, as well, the local AL leader grabbed the property of a minority family. Such acts on the part of the ruling party men only add to the insecurities of he minority communities. Recourse to legal action also does not necessarily redress their plight; for instance, notwithstanding the ruling of the court, the land of Shoshthi Rani was recorded in someone else’s name. In Rajnagar the houses of fourteen landless families were burnt down on the pretext of arresting a dacoit leader, Consequently these families became homeless.
Desecration of religious places:
Attacks on religious places like temples and desecration of the idols is a gross violation of the constitutional freedom to practice one’s own religion. In 2001 (apart from the post-election incidents), there were four such reported cases. In the Joy Kali temple area, the truck workers were constantly harassed by Nazrul Bahini (Nazrul force) which had made life in the area unbearable. In Narinda, residential quarters were being built by frocibly occupying temple land and demolishing the temple. In Khulna, despite the ruling of the court, there were attempts of forcible occupation of family temples.
Abduction:
There was one reported case of abduction of a hindu girl. In Habiganj, the terrorists attacked and injured three persons and abducted a bride to be.
Torture:
Members of minority communities have been tortured on different pretexts. At times, this is done at the direct behest of political parties, both ruling and opposition.
For instance, in Nazipur, a family of a minority community was tortured by the leaders of the ruling AL, as well as the major opposition party, the BNP. This is indicative of the consensus between the political elite where majoritarian interests are concerned. Families are often ejected from their homesteads and cannot return for fear of being further tortured.
In the village, Jhaluka of Rajshahi district, eight families suffered from the above predicament. People often were scared to take legal measures as they are intimidated and subjected to further torture. There have been instances where refusal to withdraw cases of torture led to further torture of the victims by the perpetrators.
Fig: A Hindu being beaten by Muslims in a mosque in Bangladesh. He was captured outside the mosque while going home. After Friday prayers were over, the Muslims came out and grabbed the first Hindu they could. Mr. Vimal Patak a Bangladeshi born Hindu was beaten to death with sticks as the Muslim mullas (priests) chanted "kill the Kafir!" (non-muslim). With folded hands he begged for his life and died a brutal death.
Terrorist Attacks:
About 23 instances of gang attacks upon minority communities have been reported in different newspapers. These involved acts of arson, destruction of property, robbery and attacks. The following are a few examples of such terrorization of the minority communities.
In Ramgonj, a minority populated village, about 50 families had to leave the village and twelve people were injured due to gang attacks.
In Damuria and Bettiaghata, khulna district, with in a span of three days, 40 houses of the minority community were robbed.
In Bhola about 300 minority families were effected by terorist attacks.
In Bagerhat, the houses of the minority community were put on fire.
Electoral politics and violence:
Majoritarian democracy has turned politics into a game of numbers Human beings and communities have been turned into vote banks and constituencies. This dehumanizing of politics took an extremely ugly form in the parlamentiary election held on 1 October. The majority community, especially the Hindus, were the major targets. The reason for this violence are not limited to communal factors; rather the main factor behind this appears to be more political and structural. The Hindus are regarded as vote banks of AL, so they were targeted by the supporters of the BNP and its alliance partners. In instances, terrorists took advantage of the situation and indulged in extortion and looking of property.
The violence started 15 days prior to the elections on 1 October and continued till about 27 October. This dampened the Durga Puja celebrations, he most important religious festival for the Hindus in Bengal. Newspaper scans of ten national newspapers indicated that from 15 September until 27 October about 330 incidents of violence against the Hindu community were reported. These includes cases of Rape, Killing, Physical torture, Plunder, damage of property, bomb explosions, arson, extortion. The table below illustrates the point.
These incients reported from 57 districts. The divisional occurrence of violence (table 4) showed the highest renumber of incidents reported in Dhaka division. Khulna, Rajshahi and Barishal divisions experienced the next highest number of incidents and 1 to 15 October was the peak period of violence.
Some of the newspaper reports describing acts of violence are given below to capture the plight and horror of the situation for the Hindu community.
15 year old Purnima Rani Shil was gang raped by 25-30 men. An armed gang attacked her house at night in East Delua village, Ullapura thana, Sirajganj on 8 October. They beat her parents mercilessly when they tried to stop the men. Purnima was taken to a nearby place and gang raped. Her unconscious body was rescued after two hours. Her family members were kept under lock and key on 9 October, throughout the day to make sure that the incident did not get any publicity.
On Friday 19 October, a group of young men entered a temple in old Dhaka and ate beef and bread with in the temple premises. Then they hung a large cow’s bone on the roof of the temple. The Hindus of the area complained that this was the first time such an act of violation and humiliation had taken place within a temple. The temple authorities complained to the police and a GD wad filed. Later police were deployed in the area.
A group of fourteen people wearing masks attacked a Hindu family on 7 October, in Fulhar village, Rajapur, Barisal. They wounded the inmates of the house, including old men, women and children by beating them mercilessly. They took valuables worth Taka 100,000. Before leaving, they asked the inmates to arrange for payment of another Taka 100,000, else their son, an AL activist, would be killed.
Fig: Kamala Debi of Lord Hardinge under district Vola lost every thing due to barberious attack of communalist hooligans on Oct 10, 2001
Table-1: Pre and Post election violence Assault on property and persons
Table-2: Assault on individual members of the Hindu community
Table-3: Site of violence
Table-4: Breakdown of violence in six divisions
Some “recent” incidents (2002):
( 1 ) 20th April 2002, at Moulavibazar district of Bangladesh, in Laxmipur village under Kulaur Police station several armed Muslim fundamentalists attacked the houses of Dulal Debnath and Jitendra Debnath, both members of the Hindu minority community. The houses were set ablaze. The group of miscreants led by Iuyas Mian of Balichiri village forcefully captured their lands. A case has been filed against them at the Kulaur police station.
( 2 ) 8th May, 2002, N. M. Jahangir Alam-A well known journalist of the newspaper Sambad which is published from Dhaka, was beaten up by Muslim fundamentalists. Because he was accused of publishing several news, reporting the poor conditions of the Hindu minority of Bangladesh. He filed a case at the near by Police Station but the police did not show the any interest in arresting the miscreants
( 3 ) 5th May, 2002-in the morning, At the Dolu Bridge area situated in the Shattkaniya sub-district of South Chattagram, a group of Muslim fundamentalists kidnapped Rupam Mullick, a Hindu resident and damaged his arms and legs.
( 4 ) 23rd May, 2002, near Sadhurpara situated at the Chandgaon police station of Chattagram, the local Muslim fundamentalists forcefully captured the lands owned by a Hindu widow Charubala Nath (80).
( 5 ) 8th May, 2002,-in Narikelbaria village of Bakharpara sub-district situated at Jessore, a local Muslim extreamist, Saiful along with Kabir and other fundamentalists demanded, more than 1 lakhs takas (U.S. $2,000) as Jizya tax (tax imposed by non-Muslims on Muslims) from a business Subodh Saha. But Subodh refused to pay the tax. As a result the fanatics took a glass bottle fill with hot water and vehemently beat Subodh with it. He was badly injured. His two legs were damaged. Another person called Bablu Saha, who came to protect Subodh was also beaten up.
( 6 ) 10th May, 2002, at night, a Hindu journalist named Manik Mazumdar's office was destroyed by a group of right wing Muslim fundamentalists. Manik Mazumdar is the president of reporter's union of Madhukhali sub-district in Faridpur.
( 7 ) 25th April, 2002, 9 o'clock at morning in Thakurgaon district, Chandramohan Sarkar, headmaster of Shapla Adarsha Uchcha Vidyalaya was forcefully resigned from his post because of being a Hindu, by Muslim fundamentalists.
( 8 ) 7th May, 2002, at the Shathkhira sub-district, in the Sreerampur village a Hindu housewife was raped by a reactionary Muslim fanatic named Shafiqul Islam. A case has been filed but no adequate action has been taken by the police against the accused.
( 9 ) 9th May, 2002, at night, a Hindu religious place-''Aditya Asram'' situated in the Khashipur village under the Banshkhali police station of Chattagram was demolished by some Muslim activists. A group of 30 to 40 muslim fundamentalists along with sharp weapons attacked the ''Aditya Asram''. The priest of the temple-Pradipananda Purimoharaj was deeply injured by the fundamentalists. The property of the ''Ashram'' has been looted & taken away by the attackers.
( 10 ) 4th May 2002, at night, near the Biyanibazar of Sulhet district, a Hindu Brahmin girl of the Uttabhag village has been kidnapped by a group of Muslim fundamentalists and raped mercilessly. 5th May, the villagers rescued her but she was totally senseless.
( 11 ) 3rd May, 2002, at night, in Kumilya district of Bangladesh Brajendra Bhowmick, a Hindu villager of Haludia situated under Mujaffargunge Union was attacked by armed right wing Muslim fundamentalists. The houses of Subhash Chandra Bhowmick, Nakul Chandra Bhowmick and Bimalendu Bhowmick have been set a blaze. The local police station is still indifferent regarding the incident.
( 12 ) 8th May, 2002, at night, in the Nator district of Bangladesh, the villagers of Bashantapur at Shingra sub-district were attacked by armed Muslim extremists. The houses of Niren, Nitai, Atul, Prabhat, Dinesh, Ajit, Krishna, Jitendra, Basudev and Sukumar, all Hindus were looted. The families have decided to leave Bashantapur for India.
( 13 ) Recently, near the Patuakhali sub-district of Bangladesh, at Khachipara and Kalishuri village of Banpual-the Hindu minorities have been forcibly interned at their homes to keep them under observation. Shishutosh Dash, Bhabaranjan Das, Debendranath Sarkar and Hiron Kumar Sarkar were forced to sign and give away all their houses and properties to the Muslim fundamentalists. They only cried in silence and left their land to move away to any other place.
( 14 ) 20th April, in evening, at Uttapara sub-distict of Shirajgunga a Hindu clothes merchant, Nitai Sarkar has been attacked by some muslim exrremsits. Clothes from his shop were stolen that valued nearly, 1 lakh (U.S. $ 2,000) takas. Being mercilessly beaten he is now under treatment.
( 15 ) 15th April 2002, in the Chagal Naiya sub-distict of Pheni district, Khrishna Das (60) and Ujjal Das (27) Hindu vilagers of Sattar village has been severely tortured by local right wing Muslim fundamentaliss, because they refused to pay the jizya tax according to their demands.
( 16 ) 20th May 2002, at Bargauna district of Bangladesh, in Bukabania Zabar of Bamma sub-distrcits some Hindu owned lands surrounding a temple were captured by the Muslim partymen. They belonged to the fundamentalists group of the Bangladesh National Party. They have started to build their party office in that area.
Survey Report:
I have surveyed Through 12 people of different ages. I placed both close ended and open-ended questions to them and asked them to write their point of view. They have placed different ideas on the subject matter.
The following pie charts show the results of my survey:
Survey Analysis:
According to the survey Majority(50%) of the people disagreed that the minority concept in dividing Bangladesh. Where 41.66% thinks that it is dividing Bangladesh and 8.33% did not comment on this. The persons who disagreed with this concept showed some reason on their answer. They think
- We all are Bangladeshi, religion is a very weak concept
- Its not the religion or minority, it is the politicians who are dividing the nation
The persons who agreed that minority is dividing Bangladesh thinks that
- Increasing violation of their fundamental rights making the things different from them
- Bangladesh is divided in tribal perspective
The majority people(83.33) thinks that at present this government is not more aggressive to the minorities. They said part of the government is doing this, but over all this government is not aggressive to the minorities.
In 1977 Ziaur Rahman established Bangladesh as Islamic Country. Majority(83.33%) people said this did not say that Bangladesh is not a secular country. Their point of view is that it only declared Islam as the religion of maximum people but it did not effect the right of people of other religion to practice their religion independently.
Almost all persons(90%) thinks that Bangladesh is a Secular country. They showed us their reason behind their answer-
- There is virtually no clashes going on between minority and majority people.
- Every religion has independence in our country.
- It is not providing privileges to any citizens
People are divided on the fact that whether the present law for the minorities of Bangladesh is sufficient or not. Half of the people agreed with the concept and half disagreed. The persons who agreed that the law is sufficient said that we have enough laws, what we need is the proper implementation of the law. People of other point of view things the laws that we have for the minority people in insufficient to protect the rights of minorities.
One-third(33.33%) of the people thinks that we should reserve some seats for the minorities in the national parliament. They think it is necessary to protect and say out their rights. Other 66.66% people disagreed on this. They think this concept itself an admission that there are minorities. They also said it it is not needed in a democratic country.
Majority(58.33%) people think that we do not have proper empowerment on the highest level of civil service. They said that very few people from minority group are on the top. Other 41.66% people said that they can find a few in the top level. They are divided on this topic.
Solutions:
- It is the responsibility of the majority to nation. engage the minorities on different levels and endear them to the mainstream of the nation.
- Also, it is the responsibility of the majority population to provide space for preserving the unique identities of the minority sections.
- Minorities, on their part, should not look toward other competing nation-state speak on their behalf and look after their political interests and well being. Their permanent loyalty is to their own country of citizenship. Otherwise, they run the risk of becoming prisoner of their own identities and becoming isolated islands in an ocean of a dominant culture.
- First, is the establishment of the firm rule of law and prevention of further
recurrences of such incidents. However, this should be accomplished not by
any foreign terms, organizations or interferences but through active
cooperation, communication and amalgamation among different elements in
Bangladeshi society. Different religions and sects have thrived in Bangladesh
in peace and harmony over a protracted period of time. The minority issue,
thus, has its solution in the very Bangladeshi way of life.
- Secondly, sooner than later, Bangladesh has to take a proactive stand against
the groups that are deliberately involved in the bizarre hate campaign and
tarnishing her image in home and abroad. Engaging these groups that are no
better than "cyber terrorists" needs carefully articulated strategy, changes in
domestic and foreign policy and above all, the unabated support from all her
citizens.
- Bangladeshi Hindu /Christian is Bangladeshi at first; his/her religious identity
comes next. The same is, of course, true about the majority Muslim
population. Furthermore, the minority problem in a given state is unique in its
own right and can only be solved within the existing socio-politico-cultural
framework of the said state.
Conclusion:
The above review makes it evidently clear that seeds of violence against minority community are inherent within the structures of the modern state system and majoritarian democracy, which have led to the dehumanization of politics and turned human beings into vote banks and vote constituencies. Lack of accountability and transparency of the state machinery only makes the situation worse. To come out of this vortex of violence, the structures of state have to be democratized in the true sense of the world. Bangladesh ought to recognize the plurality of its culture and people. Undoubtedly, civil society has the major and the most important role to play in this respect. A politically and humanely conscious citizenry can provide the best safeguard for its own security by compelling the government to democratize itself and make its people oriented.