Violation of minorities' rights increases fivefold

Incidents of violation of minorities' human rights increased over fivefold in 2016 than that of the previous year, a report has said.

At least 1,471 incidents of such violations were recorded while it was 262 in 2015, according to a report of the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddha-Christian Oikya Parishad.

The parishad unveiled the report titled "Incidents of the human rights violation on the minority people in 2016", at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday. It alleged that the administration was inactive in properly protecting the minorities. 

The report, prepared by the parishad's own probe and news reports, also said 71 minority people were killed in 2016 while 24 people were killed the year before.

Among the killings, 10 percent were target killings and those were conducted allegedly by the religious extremists, the report said.

There were 32 incidents of rape in 2016 and at least 875 minority people were injured in different incidents of violence while 28 people were kidnapped.

There are 2,238 incidents of attack on the establishments owned by minority community people. In 1,158 incidents, homes and assets of the minority people were grabbed. At least 168 minority families tried to leave the country, according to the report.

Rana Das Gupta, general secretary of the parishad, said the killings traumatised the minority people and unfortunately there was no effective measure from the administration to stop killings.

Rana placed several demands including enacting the "Minority Protect Act" to stop all kinds of oppression on the minority people.

Mentioning the attacks on the Hindus in Nasirnagar, he said the local administration was inactive during the incident. He alleged that at least 15 temples and 150 homes were vandalised and looted during the attacks.

The Santal people of Gaibandha became victims of an attack and there are allegations that the administration evicted the Santal in a brutal way.

Leaders of the parishad Nim Chandra Bhowmik, Subrat Chowdhury, Kajol Devanath and others were present at the press conference.