With less than a year remaining for the general elections of Bangladesh, the cases of attacks against minorities are increasing once again. In a recent attack against the minority Ahmadiyya community in the Panchagarh district of north Bangladesh by radical Muslim organizations, two youths lost their lives, while more than 100 got injured. One of the dead youths has been identified as 23-year-old Jahid Hassan.
The radicals set ablaze the Ahmadiyya mosque, along with 190 houses and 50 shops belonging to the people of the same community. The International Human Rights Committee (IHRC), has issued an alert and has claimed that the radicals have planned large-scale attacks on the Ahmadiyya-majority Nasirabad, Kafuria, and Islamganj, on Friday. The Muslim radicals were opposing the Ahmadiyya’s annual festival, and attacking the festival ground in Panchagarh, the group of Muslim radicals killed the Ahmadiyya youth Jahid, who was sitting there.
Prior to this, saying that the Ahmadiyya community is non-Muslim, Islamic radicals were giving out constant threats to stop the Ahmadiyya festival. Right before the attack in Panchagarh, the radicals got collected outside their mosque after the afternoon Namaz. And raising religious slogans, this group reached the Chowringhee Chauraha of the Panchagarh city. Here, the Ahmadiyya community tried to stop them, but the radicals started with arson and loot. And the festival was stalled.
As per a report of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC), between 2013 and 2021 in Bangladesh, more than 3600 cases of attacks against Hindus took place. As per the Council’s General Secretary, Rana Dasgupta, 11 Hindus have died during the attacks in last two decades, while 862 have been injured. 1670 cases of attacks against Hindu temples have also taken place.
