[ad_1]
Hindus make up about 8% of Bangladesh’s 170 million Muslims and have historically strongly supported Hasina’s Awami League party, which considers itself largely secular.
Bangladesh’s Hindu, Buddhist and Christian Unity Committee wrote to Yunus on Friday imploring him to protect minorities and saying hundreds of Hindu homes, businesses and temples had been attacked this week.
Hundreds of Hindus held a protest march in Dhaka on Friday, chanting slogans demanding peace.
Human Rights Watch said Yunus’ government needed to address the violations.
“It is crucial to immediately restore public order and protect vulnerable groups such as the Hindu minority who are under attack,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy director of the human rights body’s Asia department.
In the absence of police, students formed groups to guard Dhaka’s neighborhoods.
Television footage showed students and young men armed with sticks controlling traffic and checking vehicles at checkpoints. They also went to markets to check on food prices with vendors following reports of a sharp increase in prices.
Most police stations across Bangladesh have been deserted in recent days, according to witnesses, as police face public anger over a crackdown on protesters in Hasina’s final days in power. Weapons and ammunition have also been stolen from police stations, according to local media reports.
“Now they are being attacked, the police station is being attacked. What are these poor people going to do?” Hussein said.
Some plainclothes policemen returned to duty in Dhaka on Friday, and paramilitary forces were guarding some police stations, according to Reuters witnesses.
Three of the six police stations in Dhaka’s Tejgaon district have resumed full functionality on Friday. Restoration work is underway at the other three damaged police stations.
“Today we have resumed activities with the support of the army. I request all citizens to come to the police stations; we are ready to serve you,” Azimul Haque, deputy director of the department, told Reuters.
The student-led movement began as demonstrations against quotas for government jobs but turned into violent protests to oust Hasina, leaving about 300 people dead and thousands injured.
Her son said Hasina would return to Bangladesh when the caretaker government decides to hold elections, but it was not clear whether the 76-year-old would run.
Her son Sajib Wazed Joy, who now lives in the US, told The Times of India that “she will return to Bangladesh once the interim government decides to hold elections”.
Joy was not asked whether Hasina, who has been in power for 20 of the past 30 years, would contest the election. “My mother will retire from politics after this term,” Joy said.
[ad_2]
Source link
