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13-08-2024
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s new interim government says it is working to resolve attacks on Hindus and other religious minorities reported after the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Hindus are the largest minority faith in mostly Muslim Bangladesh, and many are supporters of Hasina’s party, the Awami League.
Since Hasina’s abrupt resignation and flight abroad on Monday brought an end to her 15 years in power, there have been numerous reports of attacks against Hindu households, temples and businesses. “The attacks on religious minorities in some places have been noted with grave concern,” the interim cabinet said on Sunday in its first official statement since its members were sworn in on Thursday night.
The cabinet said it would “immediately sit with the representative bodies and other concerned groups to find ways to resolve such heinous attacks”.
Thousands of people participated in protests on Sunday calling for an end to violence against Hindu communities, the Dhaka Tribune reported.
Protesters objected to the “destruction of homes, encroachment on temple land, arson, looting, and other forms of violence”, the report said.
“We are appalled by the attacks on Hindus, the torture and the vandalism of temples. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure our safety. We are citizens of this country and deserve to live securely,” the Dhaka Tribune quoted a Hindu speaker as saying at a rally in the city of Bogra.
The statement from the interim government, also known as the council of advisers, listed numerous urgent priorities.
The government, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, ordered “support” for the families of protesters who were killed in the weeks of demonstrations culminating in Hasina’s departure.
It directed public funds to pay for those injured in the unrest, which began in July and killed more than 300 people.
The council, tasked with steering democratic reforms in the South Asian nation of 170 million people, also said it would reopen the metro system in the capital, Dhaka, by the end of the week and soon appoint a new central bank governor, replacing a Hasina loyalist forced to resign.
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country following weeks of deadly demonstrations against her government.
The removal of Hasina on Monday followed weeks of deadly protests and appears to have averted the threat of further bloodshed. The focus now moves to who will control the South Asian country.
In an address to the nation, army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced that an interim government will now run Bangladesh and called for calm.
Hasina, who ruled the country for close to two decades, boarded a military helicopter on Monday, an aide told Al Jazeera, as huge crowds ignored a national curfew to storm her palace in Dhaka.
Media reports in India say an aircraft carrying Hasina landed at Hindon Air Base near New Delhi. She was on board a Bangladesh Air Force aircraft which landed at the base in Ghaziabad, ‘India Today’ news channel reported.
Her resignation came after nearly 300 people died in weeks of protest that the authorities sought to crush. A night of deadly violence on Sunday killed close to 100 and a curfew was called.
On Monday, huge crowds stormed the prime minister’s palace, preventing Hasina from delivering a speech. (Int’l News Desk)
