Justice is key to ending communal violence
In an unexpected twist—or is it, really?—in the ongoing saga of communal violence, police have reportedly identified, from CCTV footage, the person who had placed a copy of the Quran at the Nanua Dighir Par puja mandap in Cumilla, triggering a series of attacks on the Hindu community over the last week. The man alleged to have been responsible for this act is Iqbal Hossain—a Muslim, not a Hindu. Yet, like in many previous cases, it is the innocent Hindu people who have been made a scapegoat for this act, as their homes, shops, and temples were vandalised in at least 13 districts. This, more than anything, illustrates the vulnerabilities of minority communities in Bangladesh.
The role of law enforcement during some of these attacks is one that we must investigate, but the bigger question is: how did we get to this point? The fact is, over the last decade, communal attacks on minority groups have reached a new height. According to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), as many as 3,710 attacks on the Hindu community took place between January 2013 and September 2021. A fundamental reason for this and the culture of intolerance ripping through the country is the use—or abuse—of religion and identity politics. The incendiary rhetoric of political and faith actors promoting hatred and intolerance has been a major problem for many years. Unfortunately, none of our major political parties are innocent of this. This has naturally emboldened different interest groups to launch attacks against minority communities at every opportunity they get, for their own twisted reasons.
Despite similar attacks on Hindus following fake and manipulated social media posts in the past, the government has failed to tone down hateful language against minority groups. Not only that, even when people responsible for the violence were apprehended in some cases—such as the 2016 attacks in Nasirnagar or the attacks on 80 Hindu homes and eight temples in Sunamganj in March this year—they were allowed to get out on bail or even nominated by the ruling party to contest elections. What this shows is that the arrests made after such attacks may serve some PR purposes, but justice, more often than not, remains elusive.
The only way to bring an end to communal attacks is to match what politicians promise following such attacks with actions. Every time such attacks occur, we hear our politicians claim that they stand by the victims. But do they, really? The answer must be given through actions, not words. Moreover, those responsible for the attacks—and particularly for instigating them—must be held to account. Justice is still the best antidote to such mindless crimes, and we have been awfully falling behind on this. Equally importantly, the use of divisive rhetoric against minority groups as a political football must end.
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