JOIN USA string of attacks on the homes and temples of Buddhists in Bangladesh has evoked immense fear among this minority community. A photograph of a burnt copy of the Koran which was tagged on to the Facebook page of a Buddhist man appears to have triggered anger among a section of Muslims who then went on a rampage against the Buddhists. The Muslim community worldwide is in a state of ferment over an offensive American video denigrating Prophet Mohammed. Violent protests have broken out across the world. In the circumstances, the photograph of a burnt copy of the Koran proved incendiary and provoked mobs to unleash violence. The man whose Facebook page carried the photograph has denied having uploaded it. It does seem that vested interests uploaded the photograph deliberately to provoke violence and disturb communal harmony. Indeed, rarely are communal riots in South Asia the outcome of a spontaneous eruption of anger. The ruling Awami League has accused a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) legislator of engineering the violence. While the hand of the opposition in the violence cannot be ruled out given the deep political polarisation in the country, it is for an independent probe to determine this. Pointing fingers will only result in a blame game. To the credit of the Bangladesh government, it acted with alacrity to halt the violence. Soldiers were quickly deployed to enhance the sense of security of the beleaguered Buddhists.
There is speculation that the weekend’s violence was the handiwork of Muslim Rohingyas. Thousands of Rohingyas had streamed into Bangladesh in June this year to escape violence unleashed on them by Buddhist Rakhine. Did the Muslim Rohingyas attack Buddhists in Bangladesh in retaliation for their suffering at the hands of Buddhists in Myanmar? Lakhs of Rohingya Muslims have been stateless for decades, denied citizenship and rejected by both, the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh. Analysts have been warning that the statelessness of Rohingya Muslims makes them ideal recruits into radical jihadi organisations.
The violence against Bangladesh’s Buddhists is a wake-up call for Bangladesh as well as Myanmar. The two governments need to provide citizenship to the Rohingya Muslims. Myanmar’s rulers must understand that their policy of discrimination against non-Buddhist and non-Burmese speakers will boomerang. Buddhists in Bangladesh are suffering now. It is a matter of time before the violence bounces back to Myanmar.