New Delhi, Dec 11 Urging governments, global organisations, private companies and individuals to stand with the Hindus of Bangladesh, a diverse coalition of American NGOs, scholars, religious leaders, human rights advocates, and civil rights leaders have jointly called for an immediate intervention to stop the "ongoing genocide" of religious minorities in the country under the "military-Islamist" interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.
Citing a factual ground report prepared by a multidisciplinary research team on the unabated violence and atrocities committed against religious minorities since the regime change in Dhaka after the fall of government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August, the Indian Americans - including members of Global Hindu Temple Network-America, Global Hindu Heritage Foundation and Hindu Action - assert that the United Nations and global human rights organisations must formally recognise the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh as an "ongoing genocide".
Making an urgent plea for justice, they have also written to several other organisations - including the UN Peace Operations, UN Human Rights Organistation, UN Women, UNICEF, US State Department, USAID, USCIRF, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank and over a dozen private international firms that buy goods from Bangladesh - highlighting the ongoing systematic persecution and violence against minorities in Bangladesh, especially Hindus.
The report, titled 'Bangladesh Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, and Religious Minorities - Killed, Converted, Forced to Flee', is authored by former UN officer Mohinder Gulati and renowned scholars like Prof. Ramesh Rao of Columbus State University and Prof. Prakasha Rao Velagapudi, a retired Professor of Sociology from the Jackson State University in Mississippi.
"This report is not just a record of history but an urgent plea for justice. Hindus in Bangladesh, who have contributed to its culture and heritage for centuries, now face extinction in their own homeland. How much longer can the world remain silent? Each day of inaction pushes this ancient community closer to disappearance," the report mentions.
It details that the regime change in Bangladesh this August - "when a democratically elected government led by Sheikh Hasina was unseated through street violence, student agitations, political opposition, Islamist organisations such as Jamaat-e-Islami, and the Bangladesh military" - unleashed targeted violence against Hindus, their places of worship, their properties and also against other minorities, fitting into the undesired pattern of most agitations and protests in volatile Bangladesh.
The report states that severity of violent atrocities is more pronounced in rural Bangladesh where, in the last five decades, the Hindu population has dwindled to a very small minority.
The situation for Hindus worsened drastically after August, the report says, as it documents an alarming rise in gang rapes, murders, and desecration of temples. Rural Hindu communities, it mentioned, face the brunt of these attacks, enduring atrocities that often go unreported and unpunished.
"The genocide of minorities in Bangladesh demands urgent attention, immediate intervention and swift action. The international community must hold the Government of Bangladesh wholly accountable for protecting its citizens and preventing further atrocities and demand compliance with its obligations under United Nations Human Rights Declaration, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) signed and ratified by it," the authors urge in the report.
The report also proposed actionable measures to stop the ongoing persecution and foster an environment of safety and dignity for Hindus in Bangladesh, including by international recognition and intervention, UN organisations formally recognising the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh as an ongoing genocide, the interim government in Bangladesh held accountable for crimes against minorities, offer economic support, resettlement and financial aid to displaced Hindu families to help them rebuild their lives, etc.
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