On march 17, 2021 Hindus in a Bangladeshi village (Shalla) suffered a large-scale communal attack by about 1500 men who were agitated by Islamic and local leaders. The mob did not have any unique political affiliation; and the drive force was the sheer religious extremism spread by the organization Hefazat-E-Islam. These attacks have surged in the past decade after some intermittent, very-large-scale one-sided violence around 1992 and 2001.
While the above incidents are large to very large, please note that massive genocide-scale atrocities on Bengali Hindus took place in 1946 [1], [2], 1950, 1964, 1971. So we still have been suffering from the legacy of communal violence in Bangladesh. Apart from these large incidents, abduction and rape of minor girls and young women [1] [2], land grabbing [1], [2], [3], destruction of temples have become common day-to-day issues.
Please take note of some of the concerning activities carried out by Hefazat-E-Islam leaders:
Calling for the destruction of all sculptures [1],
Spreading hatred and violence against people of different faiths and opinions [1],
Agitating people against governments of other countries (e.g., France [1], [2], [3])
Violently protesting the assignment of important government roles to non-Muslims,
Links to Al-Qaeda in pursuing their dream of political Islam
A Hindu youth criticized a Hefazat-E-Islam leader well-known as a violent agitator. As a result, followers of Hefazat-E-Islam publicly and loudly organised over two days and called on people to assemble before attacking the houses of the Hindus in the village of the youth. The administration did nothing effective to stop this. On sensing the ensuing danger, many Hindus left the village. The mob then attacked, vandalised, and looted the houses of Hindu villagers with indigenous weapons.
Like in the previous incidents, the Bangladesh government arrested the Hindu youth under the despotic digital security act, which has become their tool to silence Hindus or anyone criticizing any populist belief. The government has been extremely discriminatory in applying the law as it is not used against the extremism or hate speech spread by Islamic leaders and clerics publicly or in the religious gatherings. Whereas Hindus have been arrested for things as trifle as Facebook comment welcoming French President Emmanuel Macron for his steps against terrorism in France. Hindu students were expelled from universities for trivial questions on Facebook.
We, therefore, urge you to 1) look into the violent attacks and continuous persecution on Hindus in Bangladesh; and say something to stop such things, and 2) to enlist (after your research) Hefazat-E-Islam as a terrorist organization.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Action_Day
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noakhali_riots
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950_East_Pakistan_riots
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_East_Pakistan_riots
1971 Bengali Hindu Genocide – Hindu American Foundation
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/target-taliban-rule
https://gulfnews.com/world/oceania/radical-islamists-lay-siege-to-dhaka-1.1179391