Amnesty International yesterday urged the interim government to take “concrete action” to protect the Hindus and other minority communities in Bangladesh.
It also urged the Bangladeshi authorities to conduct a swift, thorough, impartial and independent investigation into the crimes against the minority communities and associated incidents of mob violence and ensure that those responsible are prosecuted in fair and transparent trials.
The statement came a day after Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus’s address to the minority communities in Bangladesh.
“The call for ensuring human rights and freedom of expression for all is a welcome first step by the interim government in Bangladesh but it must be urgently followed up by concrete actions to ensure justice, reparations and guarantee of non-recurrence,” said Babu Ram Pant, deputy regional director for South Asia at Amnesty International.
“The new interim government must ensure the rights to equality, non-discrimination, and bodily integrity of everyone and bring an end to the revenge culture of attacking political opponents that Bangladesh has witnessed in the past,” he said.
“Time and again, incidents of mob violence, disinformation, and the failure of the state to protect the minorities and provide access to justice to survivors have continued to destroy the lives of minority communities living in Bangladesh,” he added.
Since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5, a slew of reports of attacks on houses, places of worship, and business establishments of religious minorities such as Hindus and Ahmadiyyas have emerged.
Amnesty International has documented repeated attacks against minorities in Bangladesh over the years.
