An Indian rights group has asked the United Nations to help stop Mohammed Yunus, the Chief Advisor of Bangladesh, from emboldening the religious fundamentalists in his country by denying attacks on the minorities in his country.
The New Delhi-based Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) also said Mr. Yunus had been trivialising the acts of violence against the Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians in Bangladesh by describing them as outcomes of personal disputes, criminal acts, or accidents.
His denial of atrocities against religious minorities had made the leaders of the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council extremely vulnerable to further attacks, the RRAG said in an appeal to the UN Secretary General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), and the heads of diplomatic missions and international organisations in Dhaka.
In a rejoinder to the Unity Council’s latest report on such atrocities, Mr. Yunus said on March 25: “With respect to the killings, preliminary investigations by the police indicate that these incidents were not connected to communal violence. Rather, these tragic deaths occurred at the hands of troublemakers, driven by a variety of factors such as prior enmity, theft, domestic disputes, and reckless behaviour.”
On March 13, the Unity Council said violence against religious and ethnic minorities and indigenous communities in Bangladesh continued unabated, as in the past.
“In January and February, 92 incidents of violence targeting minorities and indigenous communities have occurred, including 11 murders, three cases of rape, 25 attacks on temples, one allegation of religious disrespect, six attacks on indigenous communities, 38 incidents of attacks, vandalism, and looting of homes and businesses, two cases of job dismissals, and six other attacks,” the Unity Council’s report said.
The RRAG said Mr. Yunus, without any investigation into any acts of violence against Hindus, stated on September 5, 2024 that these attacks were politically motivated. Four months later, the police substantiated his statement through an allegedly manufactured investigation.
“The assertions of Mr. Yunus and the Bangladesh Police that there were no attacks based on religious belief are contrary to a conclusive finding of the UNHCHR, which investigated at his invitation,” RRAG director Suhas Chakma said on Wednesday.
He said the UN body’s report, released on February 12, revealed Ahmadiyya Muslims were subjected to violent attacks by the mobs, apart from Hindus and the indigenous groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Targeted attacks on the religious minorities and destruction of their houses and places of worship were often under the pretext of revenge against Awami League supporters, he added.
Seeking the international community’s intervention, Mr. Chakma said Mr. Yunus’ statements were unbecoming of a head of the government, and by condoning the violence as normal criminal acts, he was inciting radicals to target the country’s religious minorities.