india-bangladesh-clash-over-minority-violence-reports

Countering India government’s allegations of large-scale atrocities against minorities in Bangladesh, the interim government of India’s eastern neighbour claimed in a report that 98 per cent of attacks on minorities, carried out between August 4 and August 20 last year, were politically motivated and only 1.5 per cent of them were communal in nature.

 

According to the Mohammad Yunus-led interim government’s report, investigations into 1,415 complaints revealed that 1,254 were genuine and 1,234 of them were politically aimed. Only 20 incidents took place due to communal reasons, the report claimed.

 

Bangladesh’s foreign secretary Jasim Uddin handed over the report to India’s High Commissioner Pranay Verma on Sunday refuting India’s allegation of large-scale violence against minorities, said sources in the Union government’s Ministry of External affairs (MEA).

 

The findings of Bangladesh's interim government reflect a sharp contrast to the report submitted to the MEA by Indian intelligence agencies working on the soil of the neighbouring country.

 

“We found 2,113 incidents of attack on minorities in Bangladesh within a fortnight of Sheikh Hasina’s fall on August 5 last year which include nine murders and four gangrapes. In all the incidents minorities were targeted because of their religious identity. A total of 149 worship places of minorities were vandalised and set ablaze during that period. The Bangladesh government’s report is baseless and it is to hoodwink the international community which raised its voice against atrocities against minorities in Bangladesh,” said an MEA official.

 

Bangladesh government’s report is said to be a fall out of Uddin’s meeting with India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri where the Indian envoy raised the violence against minorities issue mentioning a detailed division-wise crime record.

 

“Though Misri presented the detailed report, Bangladesh envoys gave a short reply saying it is their internal affairs and they don't want India to interfere. Now, the Bangladesh government has come up with its findings to give a message to the international forum,” said the official.

 

After Yunus took charge on August 8 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his congratulatory message, underscored the need for “safety and protection of Hindus and all other minority communities”.

 

US-president elect Donald Trump, too, decried the situation of Bangladesh on social media platform X just two days before the US polls.