(Originally published 06 May 2018 in The Asian Age)
by Dr. Richard Benkin
It has been two months since I returned to the United States (US) from Bangladesh, and with it has come some perspective for evaluating what I experienced and saw. I've also had a chance to speak with people here-both officials and common citizens like myself, businesses, and organizations.
Despite what I know the government hoped would happen, I left Bangladesh unconvinced that persecution of Hindus has stopped or even lessened. Even more so, I left especially concerned that all responsible parties, especially Hindu community leaders and the Bangladeshi government, take the necessary step to head off anti-Hindu violence that we know will occur around elections later this year.
For a long time, it bothered me that the government's only response to evidence that its Hindu citizens faced an onslaught of crimes was to deny that any problem existed. Officials might have thought I'm just a naïve American who gets all his information from the Internet; they would be wrong.
But regardless, they should know that there are enough government and intelligence officials from several countries that share my conclusion-and they would be hard pressed to call them naïve. That began to change in 2016 when Bangladesh's Ambassador to the US, Mohammad Ziauddin, admitted to Congressman Bob Dold and me during a July meeting that Hindus indeed face persecution in Bangladesh.
He also said that his country was unable to solve the problem because it was poor and needed to use its resources on things that would benefit the majority of the Bangladeshi population. The Congressman offered to help Bangladesh solve this admitted problem, but he never was taken up on it.
Ambassador Ziauddinhas tried to walk back that statement since then, telling me that he has seen "new evidence," which he never specified, that indicated his previous admission was wrong. Despite his attempt to "unadmit" things, the US Congress and State Department already have his admission on record.
The most frequent dismissal of responsibility I get from Bangladeshi police and government officials now is that the crimes exist but are not anti-Hindu persecution; that "the majority population experiences the same." First problem with that: it's simply not true. As I told some police officials, we can dispose of that claim with reference to just two crimes: land grabbing and religious desecration.
Even by the 1990s, according to Professor AbulBarkat of Dhaka University, over 70 percent of Hindu land had been seized. That number continues to grow with the criminal seizure of Hindu land going unpunished. I have seen it for myself and even participated in a negotiated attempt to regain some of that land. Regarding religious desecration, I observed multiple incidents of desecrated Hindu temples and deities and took home evidence of many more.
As I asked one police official: "How many mosques have been desecrated?"I also would like to know how many Bangladeshi Muslims were forced to convert to Hinduism. The second problem is that, regardless, it does not relieve them of their responsibility to care for all their citizens, and we know that Hindus are especially vulnerable and so require strong protective action the government; that is, not merely words written or spoken.
I also left Bangladesh confident that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina really believes in the values of the constitution and wants all Bangladeshis to practice their faiths in freedom and without fear. Nevertheless, there is a serious gap between intention and implementation; and more often than not, these crimes against Hindus go unpunished. I spent a great deal of time with Hindus, at Mandirs, at universities, and elsewhere; even spoke with police officials.
Crimes of land grabbing, religious desecration, forced conversion; even child abduction, rape, and murder against Hindus occur regularly. It's a simple fact. Earlier this year, I investigated the scene of one of these crimes hours after it happened: a Hindu home in Dhaka was looted and ransacked for over four hours in broad daylight with no police intervention.
I confronted the police who claimed this was not anti-Hindu persecution but a simple crime. Yet, as I pointed out to the police official, like police districts worldwide, his no doubt has many crimes. Then why did I recognize Bangladeshi intelligence at this crime scene? Are intelligence officers at all crime scenes in his district? He admitted they were not; clearly, this was something more than a simple crime.
With more people worldwide recognizing the dire situation for Hindus in Bangladesh, it is important for the Bangladeshi government to get out in front of the solution before others do. Those with a growing awareness of this problem include donors who provide aid for Bangladesh, business leaders whose joint projects help fuel Bangladesh's economic growth, customers for garment and other exports, and others whose actions would have an impact on the nation. There is something Bangladesh can do.
In my discussion with some of the individuals mentioned in the last paragraph, one recurring concern has been that of anti-Hindu violence around election time later this year. The concern is justified given the fact that targeted anti-Hindu violence has occurred around every election no matter what party was in power. I appreciate the attempted re-assurance by Bangladeshi officials that "everything will be done" to prevent it; however, I am sure they can understand that words alone provide littlecomfort given that history of violence at election time. PROVE ME WRONG! Break a sad historical pattern and give credit to Sheikh Hasina and Awami League for doing so.
The Bangladeshis could be approaching an important point in the history of their treatment of Hindus. I have government officials on record stating they will do everything possible to prevent the violence. What does it say about the Awami League government if violence against Hindus occurs nonetheless?
It is either unable or unwilling to stop the violence. On the other hand, if there is no election time violence, the world will know that Sheikh Hasina and her government are serious about making sure all of their citizens are safe regardless of their religion.
The only measure will be whether violence occurs or not-actions not words.
The writer is an American scholar and human rights activist. He writes on South Asian issues
----Dr Richard Benkin