Human rights abuses inflicted on Bangladeshi Hindus, Ahmadiyya Muslims during last year's protests, says UN report

Geneva: Human rights abuses were inflicted on some members of Bangladeshi Hindu, Ahmadiyya Muslim, and indigenous communities during anti-discrimination protests and its aftermath last year, a UN report said.

“Bangladesh’s former government, security and intelligence services, alongside violent elements associated with the Awami League party, systematically engaged in a range of serious human rights violations during last year’s student-led protests," the report by the UN Human Rights Office said.

The report said that in the aftermath of the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government last year, “widespread attacks were reported against Hindu homes, businesses, and places of worship, especially in rural and historically tense areas such as Thakurgaon, Lalmonirhat, and Dinajpur, as well as other places such as Sylhet, Khulna, and Rangpur”.

The report said this destruction was especially prevalent in areas perceived to be sympathetic to the Awami League as Hindus have often been stereotypically associated with this political faction.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Fact-Finding Report: ‘Human Rights Violations and Abuses related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh’ also documents “troubling instances” of retaliatory killings and other serious revenge violence targeting Awami League officials and supporters, police and media as the former government started to lose control of the country.

“Hindus, Ahmadiyya Muslims, and indigenous people from the Chittagong Hill Tracts were also subjected to human rights abuses. While some 100 arrests about attacks on distinct religious and indigenous groups have reportedly been made, the perpetrators of many other acts of revenge violence and attacks on such groups still enjoy impunity,” the report said.

It added the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights interviewed Hindu business owners and homeowners in some of these areas who reported that their businesses, houses, land and religious sites had been targeted while shops owned by Hindus were also looted.

“The violence often involved property destruction, arson, and physical threats, compounded by insufficient police responses, suggesting systemic impunity, and potential political motives,” it said.

One interviewee said that Hindu funeral sites and temples were vandalized in Thakurgaon, and other witnesses described that after attacks on their property, approximately 3,000 – 4,000 Hindus from those villages fearing communal violence sought refuge near the border with India.

Affected families reported a pervasive sense of insecurity and heavy financial losses, with many losing essential items, livestock, and whole businesses, the report said.

The report further said that witnesses and victims' accounts provided to one source indicated that attacks were primarily carried out by individuals involved in "victory processions" celebrating the Hasina government’s collapse.

“While the identity of the perpetrators in these attacks was not always clear, witnesses to some of the incidents testified the attackers were local supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami, and other organised groups.”

However, there were also interventions from these political parties condemning the violence.

After August 6, there were localised efforts by BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, student groups, and social organisations to protect houses and places of worship of the Hindu community, the report said.

BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Students against Discrimination leaders, and Interim Government Chief Advisor Mohammed Yunus all made public statements condemning the violence, it noted.

Several allegations were reported of violent mobs coercing Hindu headmasters and teachers to resign.

The report added that “some local members and supporters of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami opposition parties bear responsibility for human rights abuses committed during revenge attacks, including against members of the Hindu community”.

The report noted there had been a longer record of attacks on places of worship, especially temples and shrines, in Bangladesh.

In terms of the period under consideration in this report, between August 5 and 15, media and other local sources reported attacks on places of worship associated with Hindu, Ahmadiyya, Buddhist, and Christian communities across several regions.

According to information submitted to OHCHR, three temples were attacked and set ablaze, along with the looting of approximately 20 houses, in Burashardubi, Hatibandha, and Lalmonirhat, reflecting significant levels of community unrest.

There was also an arson attack in Meherpur on a temple of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), it said.

Specific incidents reported to OHCHR also underlined the complexities surrounding these attacks. “For example, the Kali temple in Nandipara was attacked on August 7, but, upon investigation, it became clear the damage stemmed not from religious intolerance, but rather a local dispute over land ownership,” it said.

“During the protests and in their aftermath, human rights abuses were inflicted on some members of Bangladesh’s Hindu, Ahmadiyya Muslim and indigenous communities. The majority of cases concerned vandalising, looting and burning of homes and businesses, but there were also attacks on religious places, aggravated physical assaults and at least one killing. The perpetrators acted with different and often overlapping motives, including political revenge against Awami League supporters among minorities, religious and ethnic discrimination, settlement of personal disputes, and localised communal conflict,” the report said.

Based on deaths reported by various credible sources, the report estimates that as many as 1,400 people may have been killed between July 1 and August 15, and thousands were injured, the vast majority of whom were shot by Bangladesh’s security forces.

Of these, the report indicates that as many as 12-13 per cent of those killed were children.

“The brutal response was a calculated and well-coordinated strategy by the former government to hold onto power in the face of mass opposition,” said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe hundreds of extrajudicial killings, extensive arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture, were carried out with the knowledge, coordination and direction of the political leadership and senior security officials as part of a strategy to suppress the protests.”

“The testimonies and evidence we gathered paint a disturbing picture of rampant state violence and targeted killings that are amongst the most serious violations of human rights, and which may also constitute international crimes. Accountability and justice are essential for national healing and for the future of Bangladesh,” he added.