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Refugee
Watch, December 2001, No. 16
Editorial
Violent attacks on the minorities in Bangladesh has recently become a
matter of great concern. These attacks, which began before the elections
have continued both during and after the polls. Reports indicate that
post election violence and oppression against minority have displaced
thousands of Hindus in Barishal and Bagerhat districts. The most
affected upazilas (sub-districts) are Gournadi, Ujipur, Agaiijara,
Mullahat and Chitalmari. Many of these families, evicted from their
land, have become internally displaced persons and have taken shelter in
various schools and colleges in other parts of the country. A number of
families have also crossed the border to take shelter in India, mostly
in the villages populated by their friends and relatives. Skirmishes
with the security forces along the India Bangladesh border have also
been reported by the media.
Allegations of discrimination against the minorities are not totally
unheard of in Bangladesh. At least in two occasions, one in 1990 and the
other in 1992, riots broke out in different parts of the country
following reports of attacks on Muslims in India and the demolition of
the Babri mosque in Ayodhya in northern India. Huge damages to the
properties and businesses belonging to Hindus were reported during those
disturbances. Allegations of intimidation of Hindu voters and revenge
attacks following elections were also reported during the last two
general elections in 1991 and 1996. But this year reports of such
attacks were more widespread.
The Hindus are widely considered to be supporters of the rival Awami
League party which was defeated in the polls. In fact, the Awami League
leaders had wider expectations of larger support from the minority
community following the legal reforms which allowed them to get back
some of their properties confiscated during the war of independence in
1971. Those properties were classified as 'enemy property'. Due to their
large-scale support for the Awami League, the BNP supporters and the
Islamic fundamentalists set ablaze their houses and raped women in
Chadshi, Bahadurpur, Barthi, Pingolkati, Ashukati, Tarki Bandar,
Narchira, and Sharikal under Gournadi and Rangtha, Bakal, Rajihar,
Chingatia, Ramshidha, Dhanduba and Jayrampatti.
The Hindu population in Bangladesh has been continuously declining since
the partition of the subcontinent into the states of India and Pakistan
in 1947. At partition, the Hindus constituted around 31% of what was
then known as East Pakistan. By 1951, the Hindus only formed 24% of East
Pakistan's population due to a large-scale migration of Hindus to the
neighboring India. Further migrations of Hindus occurred during the 1971
military campaign of the West Pakistani government against Bangladeshi
separatists when the Hindus largely became targets of repression and
persecution by the West Pakistani military personnel. This resulted into
an exodus of about 10 million East Pakistanis to India, the majority of
whom were Hindus. Anti-Hindu riots in 1991 and again in 1992-93
following the destruction of the Babri Masjid (mosque) in India led to
the another outflow of Hindus from Bangladesh. Now the Hindus are about
10% of a total population of 130 million.
Bangladesh was born in 1971 through a bloody liberation war. After
independence, the new Bangladesh government under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
of the Awami League, enshrined secularism in the new state constitution.
Expectations skyrocketed as the new nation was carved out on the basis
of a linguistic identity. But within four years, the country plunged
into a major crisis, when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the
Nation, was assassinated along with his colleagues and family members in
August 1975. After an initial tumble, the country got military rulers,
whom they could not elect. First it was General Ziaur Rahman and then,
after his assassination, it was General Hussain Mohammad Ershad, who
took the lead. During this period of non-representative governments, in
1977, the Ziaur Rahman administration amended the constitution so that
secularism was removed as a state principle. A new provision was added
in the country's constitution by the former military ruler General
Ershad in the 1980s and the Islam became the state religion in
Bangladesh. However, the new constitution does not allow any
discrimination against anyone irrespective of their religion, caste or
creed, and it is determined to do justice to all. It recognizes the
primacy of Islam (Article 2A), but guarantees the freedom of religion of
all communities (Article 41). Article 11 of the Constitution asserts
that the Republic will be a democracy that respects all the human rights
and freedoms of all its citizens. Article 39 specifically protects the
freedom of speech and expression of every citizen (Article 39a) and
guarantees the freedom of the press (Article 39b). When country-wide
anti-Ershad movement brought an end to the military regimes at the turn
of the 1990s. The elections were held and now it was the turn of the
major political parties to manage the affairs of the state, society and
economy of Bangladesh. In this new era, problems started to take a
different shape.
When electoral politics turns into a fierce battle and takes the shape
of a 'numbers game' in a pluralist society, the religious and ethnic
minorities become the worst victims of such a game. The majority is
either unable or not that keen to protect them. The minority, usually
powerless, becomes a bigger victim because the majorities in power as
rulers and the demographically superior force can always afford to
ignore them. This ignorance, negligence and the virtual exclusion from
the political system make them even more vulnerable. In such a scenario,
the tensions between the country's major political forces and their
mutual intolerance can make the minorities run for refuge within the
country or outside. Territoriality of the modern state system thus
becomes meaningless to a people who are aliens in their homeland.
In this issues...
-
Afghan Refugees in Pakistan at Risk
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Rights or Charity? Relief and Rehabilitation in West Bengal
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Hindu Minorities in Bangladesh
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Refugee Updates...
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No Work, No Space, No Future: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon
-
438 asylum-seekers remain on board on hunger strike
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Book Review
On The Margin: Refugees, Migrants and Minorities, C R Abrar, ed
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