India Should Compel Sheikh Hasina To Apologise For Her Failure To Protect The Minorities And Send Back The Ousted Premier

By Nava Thakuria, New Age Islam 24 December 2024 Putting the central government in an uneasy situation, the Bangladesh interim regime in Dhaka has officially requested New Delhi to extradite their former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as a number of official complaints were lodged against her in various police stations there. Dhaka sent an official letter to India’s foreign ministry to send back the ousted premier, who is temporarily taking shelter in Delhi since 5 August 2024, to face judicial process in Bangladesh. As Bangladesh has a prisoner exchange agreement with India, the current administration is expecting Hasina’s return under the treaty. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ------ Mentionable is that a student run movement demanding the reform in government job quotas turned out to be a mass uprising against Hasina, who fled to India and continues to stay in a safe accommodation in the capital city. The government has not yet declared that the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (iconic freedom fighter who ruled Bangladesh till he was assassinated by radical elements in 1975) has been given political asylum, but reportedly accommodated her following a short notice request. It’s assumed that Hasina’s presence in the Hindu majority nation flares up attacks on religious minorities in the south Asian nation. Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council claimed that no less than 2,000 attacks were carried out on Hindus, who constitute a dwindling 8% of the country’s 180 million population, since August 5. India’s junior foreign minister, while participating in the Parliamentary debates, authenticated the statistics. Over 1,500 sculptures, figures carved into walls with materials like ceramic or terracotta, murals and memorials related to Hindu beliefs were targeted by the vandals. Most of these destructive incidents targeting the Bangla cultural identity and minority heritage took place soon after Hasina (76) was ousted from Gana Bhawan (official residence of Bangladesh PM). The burning, uprooting and defacing of valuable items (including the life-size statues of Sheikh Mujib) were reported from all over the country, which also reflected the hostility faced by Hindus in the changing socio-political landscape. Now apprehension arises if Bangladesh will return back to its earlier identity, an Islamic republic. Once a part of undivided Bharat, the Muslim majority region emerged as East Pakistan in 1947 and later a new nation was born as Bangladesh in 1971. Most of its citizens preferred to accept the Bengali identity (irrespective of their religion and creeds) over the Islamic nationalism. But lately, it’s widely anticipated that Bangladesh will soon turn out to be an Islamic republic (like its former partner Pakistan). However, the current caretaker government head has made it clear that Islamic extremism has no place in Bangladesh. Professor Muhammad Yunus, the lone Nobel laureate of Bangladesh, who was appointed as chief adviser of the interim government in Dhaka on 8 August 2024 after the fall of Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina, asserts that Islamic extremism will never be endorsed in the country. Responding to this writer’s query, the pioneer microfinance banker turned social business preacher turned regime head pointed out that the youth, who want to make Bangladeshi as a progressive nation, will not allow the domination of any religious extremism. Amidst public outrages across the vast country and also government reactions, India’s most influential socio-cultural group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, ideologue of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party) expressed serious concern over the flaring up of attacks, looting, arson, killings, inhumane persecution of women over the Hindu and other religious minority people in the neighbouring country and urged the interim government to firmly deal with the situation ensuring the safety and security to the minority families and their worship places from the Islamic extremists. RSS Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale also apprehended that Bangladesh was slipping into a radical Islamic State steadily. “The rise of radical Islam in Bangladesh has led to alarming levels of persecution against religious minorities, particularly the long-marginalized Hindu population and there has been massive violence in the form of brutal attacks on minorities by extremist groups like Jamaat-i-Islami and Hizbul Tahrir. Reports indicate that thousands of Hindu teachers were forced to resign or retire under pressure, while tens of thousands of Hindu professionals have been coerced out of the state education sector, agriculture, and small businesses. This pattern reflects a broader effort to consolidate power among radical groups,” said Hosabale. Earlier the arrest and elongated detention of Sanatani Sanyasi Chinmoy Krishna Das on sedition charges (allegedly for disrespecting Bangladeshi flag at a protest rally) ignited more protest-demonstrations across India. The former International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) preacher Chinmoy Krishna was arrested from Dhaka on 25 November and put in Chittagong central jail. The Hindu spiritual leader is yet to get his bail as no practicing lawyer came forward to defend him in the court. The bail plea for Chinmoy Krishna is now deferred to next month. The Hindu lawyers were reportedly threatened by the Islamists to avoid entering the court premises to legally support the Bangladesh Sanmilita Sanatani Jagaran Jote leader. Indian political leaders irrespective of party lines condemn the interim regime in Dhaka accusing Prof Yunus remains a mute spectator to all the crimes committed against the minorities. The nationalist citizens urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deal firmly with Prof Yunus and remind him that Bangladesh was born because of the immense sacrifice of Indian armed forces, where 17,000 soldiers died to save the Bangladeshi nationals, during the 1971 liberation war against the brutal Pakistani forces. Bangladesh, which shares 4,367 kilometre long border (nearly 94 percent, where the rest with Myanmar) is dependent on India for sustaining its economy, security and border management, asserted the saffron party leaders. After the outspoken BJP leaders, newly elected opposition Congress Parliamentarian Priyanka Gandhi also raised the issue of minority repression in Bangladesh during her debate in Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian Parliament. Granddaughter of former Indian PM Indira Gandhi (who lent armed support to Bangladesh Muktijoddhas/ freedom fighters), Priyanka carried a bag on which it was written as ‘standing with Bangladeshi minorities’. Along with the political leadership, most of the mainstream India media outlets punched down heavily on Prof Yunus (almost demonising the octogenarian economist) questioning his capability to receive a Nobel honour. A long list of allegations against Prof Yunus comes to the public domain as he seemingly did little to prevent atrocities perpetrated by the radical elements against the minority community. Many Hindu priests were killed or detained, where the Bangla police termed those as usual incidents of robbery. With more to it, the current regime helped get bail from the court for convicted Islamist terrorist Al-Qaeda-affiliated Ansarullah Bangla team chief Mufti Jasimuddin. Many other Islamists along with other prisoners reportedly broke different jails soon after he took the charge and incidents of looting weapons by the radical militants were recorded. Speaking to this writer from Dhaka, a sympathizer of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party claimed that India’s government, media outlets and a large section of people continue to look over Bangladesh through the lens of Hasina. Nothing wrong New Delhi has given shelter to the most fascist leader of Bangladesh, but they have forgotten that during her tenure as the premier many Hindu temples were attacked by radical elements, he asserted adding that in 2021 during Durga Puja festival over hundred Puja Pandals were vandalised killing many Hindu devotees and hence India should compel Hasina to apologise first for her failure to protect the minorities then. ------ Nava Thakuria is an official representative of PEC in South & Southeast Asia URL: https://www.newageislam.com/current-affairs/india-sheikh-hasina-apologise-minorities-ousted-premier/d/134113 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism