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Mizan Khan (103), 07/20/94
Updates
Deepa Khosla (116), 01/30/96, 06/01/99
Hindus in Bangladesh
Total Area of Bangladesh: 143, 998 sq. km
Capital: Dhaka
Population (1998): 13.395 million (This is 10.5% of the country population of 127.567 million. The country population is drawn from the US Census Bureau).
Overview
The Hindu population located in the present day territory of Bangladesh has been continuously declining since the partition of the subcontinent into the states of India and Pakistan in 1947. At partition, Hindus constituted around 31% of what was then known as East Pakistan. However, a large-scale migration of Hindus to neighboring India meant that by 1951, Hindus only formed 24% of East Pakistan's population. Further migrations of Hindus have occurred especially during the 1971 military campaign of the West Pakistani government against Bangladeshi separatists when Hindus largely became the targets of repression and persecution by West Pakistani military personnel. The result was the exodus of up to 10 million East Pakistanis to India, the majority of whom were Hindus. Anti-Hindu riots in 1991 and again in 1992-93 following the destruction of the Babri Masjid (mosque) in India led to the another outflow of Hindus from Bangladesh. By the late-1990s, Hindus constituted just over 10% of Bangladesh's population of approximately 128 million.
After winning independence in 1971, the new Bangladesh government under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the Awami League, enshrined secularism in the new state constitution. However, the minority Hindu community was still subject to discrimination in the majority Muslim state. The 1974 Vested and Non-Resident Property (Administration) Ordinance, for instance, allows the government to take over control of the property of residents who have left the country. However, it has often been utilized to dispossess Hindus who reside in Bangladesh of their property.
In 1977, the military administration of Ziaur Rahman amended the constitution so that secularism was removed as a state principle. The growing influence of Muslim fundamentalists was also likely a factor which led the government, a decade later, to declare Islam as the state religion.
Chronology
1990
October: The government imposed an indefinite curfew on older sections of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, amid mounting tension over the storming of the Babri Masjid (mosque) by Hindus in Ayodhya, India. The curfew was ordered after an attempt by protesters to set fire to Hindu temples in old sections of Dhaka. Police foiled the attempts, but the demonstrators seized cameras of newsmen outside the temple.
Maulana F. H. Amini, the head of the fundamentalist party, Khelafat Andolan, protested a recent attack by Hindus on the Babri Mosque in India, but warned that any harm to Hindus in Bangladesh or damage to their property is not permissible under Islam (UPI, 10/31/90).
1991
February: The US Dept. of State Dispatch, 1990 Human Rights Report states that: A number of Hindu shops, temples, and homes in Chittagong, Dhaka, and other cities were attacked in October following an assault by Hindus on the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya. There were no confirmed deaths of Hindus in Bangladesh as the result of the rioting, although two or three Muslim looters were shot by police. As in 1989, there were reports of harassment, beatings, robbery, vandalism, and encroachment on property directed against non-Muslims.
1992
December: Muslims attacked and burnt down Hindu temples and shops across Bangladesh and disrupted an India-Bangladesh cricket match following the destruction of the Babri Masjid in India by Hindu fundamentalists. About 5,000 young men with rods and bamboo sticks tried to storm Dhaka National Stadium, but they were beaten back by police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
At least 10 people have died, many Hindu women have been raped, and hundreds of Hindu homes and temples have been destroyed.
1993
October: Hindus in Bangladesh have decided to curtail this year's Durga Puja (Hindu religious festival) celebrations beginning on the 21st in view of the "atrocities" committed against them following the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, All-India Radio reported (0245 gmt, 16 Oct. 1993). The Hindus have demanded that damaged and destroyed temples be repaired and that an inquiry be held into the attack on a Hindu religious procession in Dhaka in August.
November: Several thousand Muslim radicals marched through the streets of Dhaka to demand the arrest and execution of Taslima Nasrin, a female Muslim author critical of male chauvinism and Islamic fundamentalism. Nasrin, 31, has received death threats for her novel "Lajja" (Shame), which condemns Muslim mobs that attacked Hindus in Bangladesh to avenge the destruction of the Babri Masjid in India. The government banned Lajja last July, six months after it was published.
The campaign against Nasrin gained momentum last month after a little known group called the Council of the Soldiers of Islam placed a 50,000 taka price ($1,250) on her head at a public meeting in the conservative north-eastern district of Sylhet. The group claimed that Nasrin's books decried the Koran and the Prophet Mohammad, causing offence to the country's majority Muslim population.
1994
February: A 15th century temple housing a priceless record of Hindu history attracts thousands of devotees every year to remote Dinajpur, a town in the northernmost corner of Bangladesh. According to government archeology department records, it was built in 1452 by a Hindu Raja (King), who hired architects and artisans from the Mughal court in Delhi to build the temple.
Every autumn, after the rainy season is over, nearly 100,000 Hindus and people from other faiths camp near the temple for a 3-week annual fair. Many also come from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and other countries.
Update 01/30/96
June: The federal government has ordered the arrest of Taslima Nasrin, a feminist writer whose novel, Lajja (Shame), led to a fatwa (death threat) being issued against her by Islamicists. 3000 orthodox Muslims marched in the streets of Dhaka on June 3 to protest against her allegedly "anti-Islamic" remarks (Reuters, 06/04/94).
August: Taslima Nasrin, the feminist Bangladeshi writer, has arrived in Sweden. She is in Sweden for a writers conference and has gone into hiding following death threats by orthodox Muslims. Nasrin's book, Lajja, describes how Hindu homes and temples were destroyed and Hindu women were raped following the 1992 destruction of the Ayodhya mosque in India (Reuters, 08/10/94).
1995
March: The US State Department's 1994 Report on Bangladesh's Human Rights Practices indicates that there were no major intercommunal incidents in 1994. However, the report states that the Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist minorities are still disadvantaged in terms of access to government jobs and political office. Further, Islamic extremists were reported to have violently attacked women, religious minorities, journalists, writers, and development workers (03/95).
June: The leader of Bangladesh's opposition, Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League, says the religious rights of minorities in Bangladesh have been affected by constitutional changes. These changes led to the removal of secularism as a state principle in 1977 and the institution of Islam as the state religion in 1988. Prem Ranjan Dev, the leader of the Hindu community, called for the repeal of these amendments and for the government to rebuild Hindu temples that were destroyed in 1971 and 1993 (in the aftermath of the Ayodhya incident) (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 06/09/95).
Update 06/01/99
July: The World Hindu Conference calls on the United Nations to investigate threats against the fundamental rights of Hindus residing in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Kashmir (Reuters, 07/11/95).
September: Prime Minister Khaleda Zia donates US $75,000 from the government=s welfare fund to a local trust for expanding Hindu temples and other facilities (Xinhua News Agency, 09/21/95).
November: A recent study by a Roman Catholic relief organization, Misereor, says that while there is no major discrimination against religious minorities in Bangladesh, some discrimination is present in certain regions and there appears to be an increase in support for Islamic extremists (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 11/09/95).
1996
January: The police storm dormitories reserved for Hindu and non-Muslim students at Dhaka University. Some 300 people are wounded and 95 arrested (United Press International, 02/04/96).
March: The ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) steps down amid protracted shutdowns and violent protests that have left 130 dead and thousands injured. A caretaker government will preside until federal elections are held in June (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 04/25/96).
The US State Department's 1995 Report on Bangladesh's Human Rights Practices indicates that property ownership by Hindus remains a contentious issue. In the early years following Bangladesh=s independence, many Hindus lost their land due to discriminatory legislation, which is still in place (03/96).
June: Hindu leaders call for the reservation of parliamentary seats for religious minorities (Reuters, 06/14/96).
The Awami League wins this month=s federal elections. Sheikh Hasina becomes Prime Minister. She is the daughter of Mujibur Rahman, the country=s first leader. Hindus have generally supported the Awami League. The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) charges that the Awami League has a pro-India stance (Reuters, 06/14/96).
The US-based National Democratic Initiative reports that Hindus in some areas of Bangladesh, including the Chittagong Hills, were intimidated and stopped from voting in the elections (Ibid.).
1997
August: Supporters of the opposition BNP, engaging in a nationwide strike, attack a Hindu religious procession in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region. No injuries are reported (Agence France Presse, 08/25/97).
1998
February: The leader of India=s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party says that Pakistan and Bangladesh should reunite with India. Pakistan dismisses the suggestion as wishful thinking, contending that it reveals India=s hegemonistic ambitions (Agence France Presse, 02/09-11/98).
March: Following elections in February, the Bharatiya Janata Party forms a new government in India. Later this month, the major opposition party in Bangladesh, the BNP, calls for a boycott of Indian goods. The BNP accuses the ruling Awami League of being pro-India (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 03/29/98).
1999
January: Police are deployed in the western town of Kushtia after Islamic militants threaten to attack Hindu temples in retaliation for an alleged dishonor to the Koran. On their invitations to a local religious festival, the Hindu community had included a Koranic verse below a picture of a Hindu goddess. The youth front of the Islamic party, the Jamaat-i-Islami says this is blasphemy. Local Hindu leaders issue an apology (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 01/15/99).
March: Hindu women in Bangladesh are reported to suffer greater gender discrimination than Muslim women due to existing legislation that governs the religious community. Hindu women do not have any legal rights to inherit property and as no formal registration of Hindu marriages is required, Hindu women do not have the legal right to divorce. Under the country=s Muslim laws, Muslim women are allowed to divorce under compelling circumstances. While the government is in favor of amendments to the marriage and inheritance laws governing Hindus, it wants the impetus to come from the Hindu community as the government does not want to offend any religious sentiments (Inter Press Service, 03/01/99).
Risk Assessment
The upper class and most well-to-do Hindus left East Pakistan for the West Bengal state of India at independence in 1947. Since then the exodus has continued, albeit at a much slower pace. Episodic communal riots in India have had significant ripple effects in Bangladesh. In late 1992, for instance, the destruction of the Babri Masjid (mosque) in India by Hindu fundamentalists led to widespread attacks against Bangladeshi Hindus and their temples and property.
When Bangladesh officially seceded from Pakistan in 1972, secularism was declared one of the state pillars. Subsequently, Bangladesh gradually moved away from the Indo-Soviet axis and turned to Islam and the Middle East for political, economic, and cultural reasons. In the process, Islamic forces gradually recovered their lost position, gaining clout again in national politics, to the detriment of secular forces and the Hindu minority. The proclamation of Islam as the state religion by the military government of General Ershad in the late 1980s was viewed by many Hindus as further alienating them from the mainstream of national life.
In the early 1990s, the growing political influence of Muslim fundamentalists coupled with periodic violent anti-Hindu campaigns left the Hindu minority in a precarious position. The June 1996 electoral victory of the Awami League, which is supported by many Hindus, appears to have slightly improved the status of the community. The Awami League has generally been more supportive of minorities. In December 1997, for instance, the government reached a peace agreement with the minority Chittagong Hill tribals, ending a 25-year insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives.
References
1. Ashworth, Georgina, editor, (1977), World Minorities, Volume One, Middx., United Kingdom: Quartermaine House Ltd. and Minority Rights Group.
1. Europa Publications, Far East and Australasia 1994.
2. Far Eastern Economic Review, 1993-94.
3. Keesings Record of World Events, 1993-94.
4. Nexis Library Information, 1990-99.