98 killed, 210 families evicted in 2016 [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

98 killed, 210 families evicted in 2016

Local December 31, 2016

At least 98 religious minority people were killed and 210 families of minority communities were evicted from their homesteads in 2016, according to a report.
The report also found 26 minority girls and women raped in the year across the country as a result of violence against religious minorities.
Terming the outgoing year ‘year of repressions on religious minorities,’ Bangladesh Jatio Hindu Mohajote disclosed the report at a press conference in the capital on Friday.
At least 711 families were either forced to leave or threatened to be driven out of the country during the time as per the report titled ‘Human Right Scenario of Religious Minorities- 2016’.
BJHM executive president Sukriti Mondal alleged that although members of different pro-ruling party organisations were directly involved in some of these recent attacks, they were not accused in cases for the unwillingness of the government in bringing the perpetrators to justice.
The climate of impunity encouraged the perpetrators to continue violence against religious minorities, BJHM secretary general Anand Kumar Biswas found.
More than 1,500 incidents of violence against religious minorities took place every month on an average as per the data prepared based on newspaper reports and evidences available with the BJMH, a platform to protect rights of religious minorities.
‘The attack on the Hindu communities at Nasirnagar in the presence of local administration reminds us of the brutality and massacre by the Pakistani occupation forces in 1971,’ Sukriti said while presenting the report on atrocities on religious minorities in Bangladesh from January 1 to December 29 of the outgoing year.
Vandalism at different temples, incidents of rape and forceful conversion were designed to create fear among the minority communities, he added.
A total of 15,054 incidents of communal violence took place in 2016, the report showed.
The Hindu community leaders said the motive behind these attacks were mostly to create political instability in the country.
When asked for comment, ruling Awami League presidium member Abdur Razzaque said that the claims of Hindu Mohajote were not correct.
Awami League and its government believed in secularism and was working to protect rights of the people from all religious communities, he said.
‘We are against any attacks on the Hindus and other minorities living in the country. But some incidents are happening and our government is taking measures to contain it,’ Razzaque told New Age.
The attacks should not be compared with those committed during the 1971 War of Independence, the former minister added.
Chief co-ordinator of BJHM Shyamal Kumar Roy said that the report was an effort of their organisation to remind the society of the brutality the religious minorities had experienced throughout the
year.
President of Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu Mohajhote Prabhas Chandra Roy, vice-presidents Sushil Mahato and Badal Dutta were also present, among others, at the conference.
The minority community leaders demanded proper investigation into the incidents of attacks on minorities and exemplary punishment meted out to the real culprits to change the present scenario.