Author:
Publication: The Economist
Date: November 27, 2003
URL: http://www.economist.com/printedition/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Story_ID=2252648
Religious minorities in Bangladesh,
an overwhelmingly Muslim country of 130m people, have been getting increasingly
nervous lately. In mid-November, 11 Hindus were killed near the southern
port of Chittagong when their house was burnt down. The main opposition
party, the Awami League, claims that the massacre was designed to scare
Hindus into fleeing the country. "It's been a pattern ever since the government
came to power over two years ago," says Abdur Razzak, a League spokesman.
According to Mr Razzak, hundreds of Hindus have already left.
Muslim minorities are not spared
either. A few days after the Chittagong massacre, a mosque in Dhaka attended
by the Ahmadiya community was attacked by hard-line Sunnis who say the
sect should be declared non-Muslim and banned from worshipping. At least
50 people were injured. At the same time, members of Bangladesh's 45 mostly
Christian or animist indigenous groups have been demonstrating against
what they say is the encroachment of Bengali settlers into their ancestral
homelands in the north and south-east. The protestors are especially angry
over government plans to build a giant wall in the lands of the Garo people
in the Madhapur National Park, which they argue will separate them from
their traditional hunting grounds and farmland.
Government ministers nonetheless
insist that Bangladesh is a picture of communal harmony, especially when
compared to India. They cite a heavy police presence during recent disturbances
as proof of their intention to protect the Ahmadiyas. And the environment
minister says the wall in the Madhapur Park is needed to protect the remaining
forest and stop poaching. But the minorities remain unreassured. "The only
place where we can be truly safe", says a Chittagong Hindu, "is in the
departure lounge of Zia International airport."
