Bangladesh Must Urgently Act to Protect Religious Minorities
For a democracy to thrive, it must uphold the rights of religious minorities as sacrosanct.
The devastating news out of Bangladesh this week has ignited a firestorm of international concern.
“Bangladesh crisis: 10 temples attacked, Hindu musician Rahul Ananda’s house torched,” reported the Associated Free Press yesterday.
“Some businesses and homes owned by Hindus — a group seen by some in the Muslim-majority nation as having been close to ousted leader Sheikh Hasina — were attacked on Monday, witnesses said,” added the outlet. “Police reported mobs launching revenge attacks on Hasina’s allies. Offices of Hasina’s Awami League party were torched and looted across the country, eyewitnesses told AFP.”
On Monday alone, authorities estimate that 122 people were killed during widespread unrest that included at least 97 separate attacks.
While anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh has a long and complex history, intertwined with the broader socio-political and religious dynamics of the region, this is no minor flare-up.
It is the chief duty of any democracy to protect the rights of religious minorities.
Nothing undermines prosperity, and foreign capital investments, faster or more thoroughly than…