Source: Religion News Service, August 29, 2024
Amid a spike in violence against religious minorities in Bangladesh, a national council of Buddhists, Hindus, and Christians is renewing a campaign for the Muslim-majority South Asian nation to remove Islam as the state religion.
In mid-July, student-led protests demanding reform of the country’s job quota system turned violent, culminating in the collapse of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government on August 5. After Hasina’s resignation, the anger aimed at her government poured onto religious minorities, especially Hindus and members of Hasina’s party, the secular Awami League, which is backed by much of the Hindu community.
The attacks on Hindu houses of worship, homes and businesses, as well as Awami League politicians, have resulted in the deaths of at least 650 people since the violence began, according to a report by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, a human rights organization, argues that enshrining Islam as the state religion has been detrimental to the country’s religious minorities and aspirations of greater democratic rule.
“According to the communalist and fundamentalist forces, Islam does not coexist with other religious faiths and beliefs and also contradicts democracy, in which they have no belief,” said Monindra Kumar Nath, the council’s joint general secretary.
The council said earlier this month that there were 1,045 cases of human rights violations against religious minorities between June and August.