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'Taliban' attack Bangladeshi Hindus: British group |
| A London-based group is stepping up a
campaign in Britain to draw attention to atrocities by
what it calls "the Taliban" against Hindus in
Bangladesh. By Taliban the group means Muslim religious students who, it says, are evidently turning out to be as fearful in Bangladesh as in Afghanistan. "These atrocities have picked up in the last two months and the situation is becoming alarming," a spokesman for the Forum for Minority Rights in Bangladesh told IANS. Members of the forum in Britain have begun to lobby ministers and members of Parliament to draw attention to the atrocities. But its campaign has won little support so far. "Everyone is concerned about the rights of innocent people in Afghanistan but nobody wants to know about what these Taliban are doing to Hindus in Bangladesh," the spokesman said. The campaign by the group has, however, won support from Amnesty. In a report December 5, Amnesty asked the government in Bangladesh to take urgent action to protect Hindus "following weeks of grave human rights abuses." Reports of atrocities against Hindus, who make up some 20 million of Bangladesh's 140 million population, have gone up ever since a nationalist four-party alliance came into power in October. Amnesty said "more than one hundred women are believed to have been raped, often in front of their husbands or fathers. A number of Hindu girls have been abducted." The Amnesty report cites several specific instances. "Successive governments have let down the Hindu minority in Bangladesh and the last two months show exactly how vulnerable the Hindu community is. The government must live up to its responsibility to protect all of its citizens and it must do it now." Amnesty said a government committee had been set up to investigate the ongoing attacks but that it is "not aware of any progress it has made." The Forum for Minority Rights in Bangladesh says attacks on Hindus have picked up in retaliation for the U.S.-led bombing of Afghanistan and the support for it from India. "Since October the rape, torture, destruction of properties, temples, images of Hindu gods and goddesses and the murder of Hindus has been renewed with vigour as a pastime," the forum said in a statement. "Hindu men and women have been disguising their appearances to avoid being targeted by the Talibans and Rajakars," the forum says. Women have stopped wearing vermilion on their heads and men have taken to wearing the lungi -- a piece of clothing associated with Muslims -- rather than the dhoti, it says. Petitions pointing out specific violations and a general fear among Hindus in Bangladesh have been handed over to several MPs and media organisations. -IANS
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