B'desh: US lawmakers express concern over attack on minorities

Expressing serious concern over increasing attack on religious minorities like Hindus in Bangladesh, top US lawmakers have said they are worried that the country is falling into the lap of fundamentalist groups.
During a Congressional hearing, the lawmakers urged the Bangladeshi government to take immediate steps to prevent the country from slipping into hands of fundamentalist groups.
"In Bangladesh today, if we go back to 1947.. You have a total of 49 million Hindus missing from the rolls, many of them of course went to India. But recently we have got a situation where you got 1500 Hindu homes, 50 Hindu temples burnt to the ground," Congressman Ed Royce, the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during hearing.

Not just Hindus, but people from other religious minorities including Christians are increasingly becoming victims of this attack, he alleged.
Royce said it is because a small percentage of Bangladeshi population has been radicalised and has not been given a wider broader education.
"I am particularly concerned over issues regarding religious freedom, and specifically, over attacks on the minority Hindu community remaining in Bangladesh today," said Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, the Acting Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

"It is up to the Government of Bangladesh to act authoritatively against those who incite and commit violence against anyone and protect the rights of all minorities," she said. "This is an essential step toward ensuring the safety and basic rights of all of Bangladesh's citizens, regardless of their faith."

Congressman Brad Sherman expressed serious concern over the violation of human rights of Hindus in Bangladesh.
Royce alleged that fundamentalist groups in Bangladesh are indulging in forced conversions by kidnapping girls and women and by showing terror.
"We also have a situation wherein the local police sometime blame the Hindu population for destruction," he said.
"Unless the State in Bangladesh is ready to come forward and close these particular Deobandi schools, Bangladesh is going down the path where the consequences of this would eventually engulf itself. You can see what is happening in Pakistan, when you do not confront it," Royce said, adding that the Government is not doing enough to protect them.

Responding to questions from lawmakers, Ali Riaz, Public Policy Scholar from Woodrow Wilson Center, conceded that the issue has not been addressed as robustly as it should be.
"Instability in Bangladesh is contributing to this kind of situation. The State has never done it should be doing (to protect minorities). Irrespective of the political parties in power, the State has failed to protect the minorities," he said.