Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh reflect a 'conspiracy', Indian newspapers say
The mainstream Indian print media today editorially commented on the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, opining they reflect a "conspiracy to instigate the violence."
Most of the editorials welcomed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's promise of strict action against the perpetrators of the violence and also lauded India's restrained response to the events in that country, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
The Times of India editorial said the gains of Bangladesh's impressive economic growth in recent years would "come undone if Islamist radicalism is allowed to gain the upper hand."
It said Sheikh Hasina has "devoted considerable energy towards fighting extremism…yet the recent spate of attacks on minority Hindus shows that Islamist radicalism has penetrated deep into Bangladeshi society."
"Countering this will require sustained efforts including quick justice for the aggrieved," according to the editorial.
The daily called for a "thorough review of the space organizations like Hefajat-e-Islam have in Bangladesh" and said, "a cynical political pandering of radicals doesn't pay."
The Times of India said India "has done well to adopt a measured tone towards the incidents of violence in Bangladesh and put its faith in Hasina."
It opined it would be "prudent" to back Hasina government "wholeheartedly and eschew using the situation in Bangladesh for domestic political gains. It is in India's interest that Hasina and her progressive vision for Bangladesh succeed," commented the editorial.
The Hindu editorial said "what is particularly worrying is that the attacks indicate a conspiracy to instigate the violence."
Pointing to Hasina's address via videoconference to Hindu devotees at Dhakeshwari temple in Dhaka, it noted a remark by her that Bangladesh's big neighbour must be sensitive to the situation and wanted that "nothing is done there [India] that affects our country [Bangladesh]" as a message to New Delhi.
"Given the seriousness of the attacks and the fear that has gripped the Hindu minority in Bangladesh, the international and Indian concern is not surprising," The Hindu commented but asked India to "act cautiously in light of all the various links between India and Bangladesh."
The editorial in The Indian Express said the violence against the Hindu minority in Bangladesh "is an ominous development", but is also a reminder of one cardinal truth: in all of South Asia, violence in one place will spill over to another.
The violence targeting the Hindus in Bangladesh "is a disturbing sign of the continuing influence of Islamist groups that have threatened the secular consensus in that country since its birth 50 years ago," it added.
However, according to the Indian Express, evidence suggests that the anti-Hindu mobilisations in Bangladesh are more of an aberration. A secular linguistic identity has been the foundational principle of Bangladesh but a powerful Islamist strand, a leftover of pre-Partition politics in the Subcontinent, has survived through organisations such as Jamaat-e-Islami in alliance with military dictators and pro-Pakistan forces.
"The rise of al Qaeda and ISIS has provided additional impetus and new ideological inspiration for the emergence of new radical groups", it said, adding, that the current anti-Hindu violence "may also bear the imprint of forces that oppose Sheikh Hasina in a political eco-system where there are few spaces for the opposition."
The Indian Express sought to find a link between the anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh and targeted attacks on Hindus in Kashmir.
"The intent is not just local ethnic terror but a deepening of the communal divide in India. It is tempting to say that this violence is a strategic act by particular organized groups, perhaps with transnational links," it said adding "over time, everywhere in South Asia, violence has fundamentally transformed politics. It is a tiger you ride at your own peril."
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