Author: Our Special Correspondent
Publication: Organiser
Date: January 18, 2004
Introduction: Startling revelation
by People's Investigation Commission of Bangladesh
"Destroy the minority Hindus' sense
of security of living in Bangladesh so that they are forced to flee the
country. This strategy will rid the country not only of the Hindus but
also of all other minority ethnic groups and help Bangladesh emerge as
a true Islamic theocratic country in the world", said People's Investigation
Commission (PIC), an independent body of leading Bangladeshi intellectuals
and human rights activists. The PIC, headed by Professor Zillur Rahaman
Siddiqui, Jehangir Nagar University's former vice-chancellor, published
its 102-page report in Dhaka in June. Other important members of the PIC
are Prof. Anis-uz-Zaman, Mosharraf Hossain, Siraj-ul-Islam Chowdhury and
Barrister Shafiq Khan. The Commission was set up after the Khaleda Zia
government refused to allow international human rights groups to probe
persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh.
The Khaleda Zia government argues
that it has set up a high-power probe committee headed by principal secretary
Kamal Siddique to verify allegations of persecution of Hindus and the Buddhists.
However, neither Siddique nor any member of his so- called probe committee
has ever visited any place in Bangladesh where Hindu women were raped,
murdered and houses set on fire since the formation of the probe committee
about 20 months ago. Instead, her government's stand is that no persecution
of any kind has taken place because there is no minority or majority community
in Bangladesh. "All are Bangladeshis, media reports on persecutions are
exaggerated and baseless. The Opposition's conspiracy is also responsible",
the Zia government officially stated while refusing entry to international
human rights activists in Bangladesh.
The PIC has conducted a detailed
inquiry into the persecution of Hindus after parliamentary elections in
Bangladesh on October 1, 2001. The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) led
by Begum Khaleda Zia and Jamaat-e-Islami combine came to power defeating
Sheikh Hasina's Awami League. The PIC blames the ruling alliance for unleashing
planned and systematic attacks, which have surpassed the atrocities committed
by the Pakistani army during the 1971 liberation war.
The PIC report says the persecution
of Hindus in Bangladesh is currently being carried out with the clear objective
to cut them off from the social, economic and political mainstream. This
objective of persecution of the Hindus is aimed permanently at resolving
the minority issue, which is irritating the Islamic fundamentalists, now
leading the Bangladesh National Party-Jamaat-e-Islami combine in Bangladesh.
The PIC deplores the fact that the old Pakistani legacy of persecuting
the Hindus continues with impunity under Begum Zia's regime in Bangladesh.
The PIC report says the main purpose
of minority persecution in Bangladesh is to foment communalism as a political
weapon so as to get the majority support to win elections. "Unfortunately,
no political party in Bangladesh has so far spoken against the persecution
of Hindus and Chakma Buddhists in Chittagong Hills in Bangladesh", the
PIC report says.
The PIC has described the persecution
of Hindus as "successful staging of mindless violence on a national scale.
The rehearsal of communal violence was held in 1992 when Bangladeshi Hindu
were systematically looted, raped and forced to flee their homes after
demolition of the Babri structure. That was the time when Bangladeshi Hindus
were told that Bangladesh is a Muslim country where the very existence
of the Hindus is dependent on the sweet will of the Muslims."
Raping women belonging to the minority
communities is a weapon used freely by culprits to break the Hindus morally
to organise resistance against the rioting Muslim mobs in rural Bangladesh.
This is evident from the fact that from eight-year-old girls to eighty-year-old
women were raped. Otherwise why should women and girls be raped in front
of their husbands and parents? And why should the Hindus be persecuted
by the BNP activists for voting for the Awami League? And why only the
Hindus have to pay punitive tax to the local units of the ruling BNP for
staying in Bangladesh? The objective is clear. Create a fear psychosis
among the Hindus so that they will never exercise their right to vote.
The PIC drew the attention of international
human rights activists saying, "deliberate inaction (on the part) of the
Zia government to bring culprits to book is very much in tune with the
policies pursued by the present communal government in Bangladesh. The
recent attacks on Bangladeshi Hindus, Buddhists and vanvasis have broken
all previous records. The Hindus in Savar, Bhola, Barisal, Bagerhat, Chittagaon,
Siraj Ganj, Pabna, Rajshahi, Jhenaidah, Natore, Gajipore, Kishore Ganj,
Feni and Patuakhali districts have suffered most severely during the recent
communal violence in Bangladesh. Hindu women in rural areas of these districts
in Bangladesh are especially targeted irrespective of whether they are
rich or poor. But the poor women of Hindu families have borne the brunt
of the attacks most." The PIC report cites instances of mass migration
of Bangladeshi Hindus after the BNP- Jamaat-e-Islami combine came to power
20 months ago. The report says, "It is an established fact that the Hindus
have been continuously migrating to India, which the Zia government refuses
to accept. The latest Bangladesh census report shows a sharp decline in
the Hindu population. But the Zia government is silent over the reasons
behind such decline in the Hindu population so far. The message is clear:
Cleanse the country of minorities. (VSK, Kolkata)
