After Hasina’s fall, Hindus in Bangladesh on edge
The minority community is being targeted as it is largely seen as supporters of the Awami League, which was ousted on Monday.
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On the night of August 5, hours after the Sheikh Hasina government fell in Bangladesh, a 28-year-old Hindu government employee got a call from his elder sister.
A mob had gathered outside her home in a village in Kurigram district, she told him, and tried to attack it.
“They managed to resist the attack,” the government employee told Scroll.
Kurigram, which is a two-hour drive from the Indo-Bangladesh border, has a sizeable Hindu population.
Though few other incidents have been reported from the district, the government employee was apprehensive. “We are living in fear at this moment,” he said. “I don’t know what to do. Should I move to India?”
In the aftermath of Hasina’s dramatic flight from Bangladesh on August 5, the Hindu community was on edge, with sporadic reports of mobs turning on homes and religious places of minorities.
“Right now, minorities and those who were associated with Awami League are not safe at all,” said the government employee from Kurigram. The leaders of Hasina’s party Awami League have come under attack in several places, the Bangladesh-based newspaper Prothom Alo reported on Tuesday.
The Kurigram resident said he had few options if the violence escalates. “I have only one request to the Indian government – they should open the gates in the states which...
