Human Rights
Tainted Identities
Since the ICT verdicts stirred unrest in the country, the war crimes tribunal, the government, the opposition, the Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, the police and the Shahbag crowd - all were criticised by different national and international communities. Some of those criticisms may not entirely be applicable. Nevertheless, it is true that following the unbridled attacks unleashed on the Hindu communities, we are not in a position to say with conviction we have been able to maintain a harmonious co-existence.
In a statement on March 6, Amnesty International's (AI) Bangladesh researcher Abbas Faiz notes, “It is shocking that they [Hindu people] appear to be targeted simply for their religion.” Many have found the recent violence against the Hindu communities even more appalling than the plight of the Buddhist people in Cox's Bazar and the exile of Rohingyas from Myanmar and the whole situation in the region indicative of a growing tendency of violence against minorities.
In theory, the despicable acts of violence against the Hindu communities should bear no relevance to the politics of war crimes, the war crimes tribunal and its verdicts or the government, opposition or Islam. But the persecution of innocents in the name of religion shows that in reality things were different. The hope of upholding the country's image is a distant dream when one of its minorities is subject to violence and the government being advised by international human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to put more effort to handle the situation.
Indeed the battle is challenging. Only a few days ago, while the government was advised to harness its law enforcers from using lethal weapons, a police constable, on pursuit of Jamaat-Shibir men on charges of violence against the Hindu communities, was shot in Khulna. This also begs the questions as to who are in need of real protection. Amid criticism, the government along with the opposition proposed to form committees using their grassroots-level members to “protect the minority”, which has also been frowned upon by two advisors to previous caretaker government as it may pave way to outright confrontation.
It should be noted that leading British and American media including the BBC and the CNN had been terming the war-crime accused as 'Islamists' rather than 'convicted war criminals'. At such a time, media reports on attacks initiated by 'Islamists', connoted as terrorists, should be embarrassing for Bangladeshis.
Awareness-raising campaigns by political and Islamic parties and scholars have already been initiated to battle propaganda fuelling violence. Although most Islamist parties in Bangladesh had dissociated themselves from such abuse of religion, this had not quite pacified the eyebrows raised. When the Hindu communities are victims of vandalism, arson, destruction of places of worship and homes and the attackers are termed as 'Islamist', it may be perceived as an outbreak of a communal riot and oppression.
“This is not a communal riot but something completely unprecedented,” says Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman, a professor of Islamic History and Culture at Dhaka University. “Examples are extremely rare for such pre-planned injustice in grand scale towards minorities who are completely unrelated to whatever political rationale being used to justify the attacks.”
Even when the sub-continent was under Muslim rule, the Hindu people did not experience such maltreatment and persecution. Akhtaruzzaman reaffirms that the situation had never been similar, “Our sub-continent was an example of communal harmony since the Medieval Ages despite the Muslims, having conquered the subcontinent, were in charge of authority over the masses – the Hindu and Buddhists people.”
into tears seeing a relative. They deserve safety and justice rather
than pity after such events take place. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das
The professor notes, “There were some stray incidents of inter-communal conflicts throughout the Sultanate to Nawab periods but the authorities addressed the problems with due attention, the offenders were brought to justice and the sufferers compensated.” If medieval state apparatuses could successfully subdue communal conflicts, our constitution does not leave room for depriving the Hindu people of their rights to safety.
The closest resemblance to the recent atrocities against a minority, says the scholar, would be the persecution of Buddhist people under Lakhsman Sen's rule. But resurrection of that medieval barbarism towards a minority group as “a means of protest” makes no sense whatsoever. “The image of Islam is being tarnished,” says the professor, “Societal forces against this abuse of religion must rise to fend off these events from taking place.”
When internal conflicts amongst us dismayed the nation, it may not be too late to rethink about how our collective identity is being stigmatised and what best we can do to restore peace. There must be a unified effort to end the plight of the Hindu people while the government has the biggest role to play in bringing the miscreants to justice.