Student leaders in Bangladesh called on their supporters to protect Hindu temples and churches, while diplomats and rights groups expressed concerns over reports of attacks on minority groups following the resignation of the prime minister amid a nationwide uprising.
There was euphoria – but also looting and looting of national monuments and government buildings – after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country on Monday following weeks of deadly demonstrations against her government.
Opposition politicians on Tuesday called for the protection of all Bangladeshis “regardless of religion and politics, from discriminatory violence”, amid reports of attacks on temples and churches.
Students were seen guarding Hindu temples and other places of worship in social media footage and images verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad, including in Chittagong, the country’s second-largest city.
“The miscreants systematically attack various public and private institutions to prove the student movement wrong,” Chittagong University coordinator Russell Ahmed told the Bangla Tribune newspaper.
“To prevent any kind of attack on places of worship, temples and churches of different religions in Chittagong, we have set up a committee in each district… to keep watch from Monday night,” he said.
In the capital, Dhaka, a Muslim man was seen guarding the Dhakeshwari Temple, a Hindu place of worship.
“A Muslim man was seen praying salah in front of the Dhakeswari temple… and protecting the Hindu temple from all the bad people who are trying to stop the reform by attacking minorities and public properties,” said Saif Ahmed, social media manager of the Bangla cricket team Tigers. team, shared on X.
Both Muslim and Hindu neighbors guarded and protected the temple, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.
Students who led protests against Hasina over government job quotas they saw as discriminatory also called on people not to target minority communities in the Muslim-majority country of 170 million people.
Nahid Islam, a student at Dhaka University and one of the organizers of the protest, told local media: “There is no grouping or division among us. We are against any type of incitement, sabotage or religious division. We will prevent such attempts.”
This is real news tonight in #Bangladesh
Everyone is coming forward to protect the temple in different places.
1. Hathazari Kali Mandir is guarded by the students of Hathazari Madrasa.
2. A team is on guard to protect the Ramakrishna Mission in Faridpur!
3. We are general… pic.twitter.com/nH7eGcxHCs
-Nirab (@Nirab23) August 5, 2024
The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), urged people to exercise restraint at what it considered to be a “transitional moment in our democratic path”.
“It is our duty to protect all Bangladeshis, regardless of religion and politics, from discriminatory violence, and not to harass any particular community, create division or seek revenge. Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, believers, atheists – no one will be left behind or harmed on our democratic path; together, we are all proudly Bangladeshis,” wrote Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the BNP, on X.
Concerned diplomats
Monday was the deadliest day of unrest since protests erupted last month, with at least 122 people killed.
“Minority homes and shops were attacked, vandalized and looted in at least 97 places on Monday and Tuesday,” Rana Dasgupta, general secretary of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, said in a statement, the news agency reported. AFP news.
“These attacks on minorities go against the fundamental spirit of the student anti-discrimination movement,” Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) head Iftekharuzzaman told AFP.
India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday that the country was “monitoring the situation with regard to the status of minorities”, adding that the Indian government would “remain deeply concerned until law and order is brought in.” be visibly restored.”
The United States embassy in Dhaka called for “calm” in a publication on X.
“We are concerned about reports of attacks on religious minorities and religious sites in Bangladesh,” he said, in a message echoed by European Union diplomats.
EU mission heads “are very concerned about reports of multiple attacks against places of worship and members of religious, ethnic and other minorities in Bangladesh,” EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley published in X.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
