2012 Chirirbandar violence refers to the attack on the minority Hindu community by Islamic extremists in Chirirbandar Upazila of Dinajpur District in the Division of Rangpur, Bangladesh on 4 August 2012.
2012 Chirirbandar violence refers to the attack on the minority Hindu community by Islamic extremists in Chirirbandar Upazila of Dinajpur District in the Division of Rangpur, Bangladesh on 4 August 2012.
There was a temporary mosque in the Balaibajar locality of the Rajapur village under Amarpur union council of Chirirbandar Upazila . The owner of the land was Professor Hamida Khatun of Chittagong Metropolitan College. She wanted to make the mosque permanent. The foundation stone of the mosque was laid one week before the incident. But there was an old Kali Temple about 200 yards distant from the mosque. Rajapur village is a completely Hindu dominated village. There is no Muslim in the locality. So the Hindus requested Professor Hamida Khatun to build the Mosque 500 yards away. But she denied and with the help of the Chirirbandar Upazila Parishad chairman and a Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leader Aftab Ali Molla gave inflammatory speech to agitate the local Muslims. [1] [2]
The violence is said to have brewed on Saturday 4 August 2012, in spite of Section 144 being imposed there. [2] [3]
The incident triggered panic among the members of the Hindu community in the locality. [2]
The Awami League put the incident down to the upazila administration's lack of prompt action and BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami's provocation. BNP, however, pointed the finger at the ruling party lawmaker's failure to act responsibly. [4] [5]
Over 50 important Bangladeshi intellectuals like Shahriar Kabir and Syed Shamsul Haque have condemned the violence. [6]
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, imprisonment, internment, fear or pain are all factors that may establish persecution, but not all suffering will necessarily establish persecution. The threshold of severity has been a topic of much debate.
Hindus have experienced both historical and ongoing religious persecution and systematic violence, in the form of forced conversions, documented massacres, genocides, demolition and desecration of temples, as well as the destruction of educational centres.
Hinduism is the second largest religion in Bangladesh, as according to the 2022 Census of Bangladesh, approximately 13.1 million people responded that they were Hindus, constituting 7.95% out of the total population of 165.15 million people. In terms of population, Bangladesh is the third-largest Hindu populated country of the world, after the neighboring countries of India and Nepal. Hinduism is the second-largest religion in 61 out of 64 districts of Bangladesh, but there is no Hindu majority district in Bangladesh.
Dinajpur District is a district in the Rangpur Division of northern Bangladesh. Dinajpur is the largest district among all sixteen northern districts of Bangladesh.
Parbatipur is an upazila (sub-district) of the Dinajpur District in northern Bangladesh, part of the Rangpur Division. It is home to the only active coal mine in Bangladesh, the Barapukuria Coal Mine.
The Constitution of Bangladesh includes secularism as one of the four fundamental principles, despite having Islam as the state religion by 2A. Islam is referred to twice in the introduction and Part I of the constitution and the document begins with the Islamic phrase Basmala which in English is translated as “In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful” and article (2A) declares that :"Islam is the state religion of the republic". Bangladesh is mostly governed by secular laws, set up during the times when the region was ruled by the British Crown.
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh.
General elections were held in Bangladesh on 5 January 2014, in accordance with the constitutional requirement that elections must take place within the 90-day period before the expiration of the term of the Jatiya Sangshad on 24 January 2014.
Malaun is an offensive religious slur directed to Hindus in Bangladesh. The word is derived from the Arabic "ملعون", meaning "accursed" or "deprived of God's Mercy".
2012 Hathazari Violence denotes a series of attacks against the minority Hindu community by the majority Muslim in Hathazari Upazila of Chittagong District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh on the 9 and 10 February 2012.
2012 Fatehpur Violence refers to the attack on the minority Hindu community in the Fatehpur village under Kaliganj upazila in Satkhira District in south-western Bangladesh on the 31 March 2012.
1992 Bangladesh pogroms was a series of violence against the Bengali Hindus and other non-Muslim minorities of Bangladesh, by Islamists in protest against the demolition of Babri Masjid and violence against Muslims in India driven out of hate and revenge mindset continuing from almost 1947. The incidents of violence began in December 1992 and continued till March 1993.
In 1990, a series of attacks against the Bengali Hindus in Bangladesh occurred in late October and early November, following a rumour that the Babri mosque in Ayodhya in India had been demolished. The attacks on the Hindus began on 30 October and continued till 2 November.
On 28 February 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, the vice-president of the Jamaat-e-Islami to death for war crimes committed during the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence. Following the sentence, activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir attacked Hindus in different parts of the country. Hindu properties were looted, Hindu houses were burnt into ashes and Hindu temples were desecrated and set on fire. While the government has held the Jamaat-e-Islami responsible for the attacks on minorities, the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership has denied any involvement. Minority leaders have protested the attacks and appealed for justice. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has directed law enforcement to start suo motu investigation into the attacks. The US Ambassador to Bangladesh expressed concern about attacks by Jamaat on the Bengali Hindu community.
2013 Bangladesh violence refers to the political instability, increase in crime and widespread attacks of minorities and opposition activists.
On 5 January 2014, the 10th general elections were held in Bangladesh. The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami had already boycotted the elections. The buildup to the elections were marred by successive strikes and violence by the opposition parties. Victims claimed after the polls, workers and supporters of the opposition parties began attacking the minority Bengali Hindus. Accusing of looting, vandalising and setting the Hindu houses on fire in several districts across the country. Seven persons belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party were arrested in connection with the attacks. The National Human Rights Commission held the government responsible for the attacks on Hindus after the election. In India, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party condemned the attacks on minorities.
The 2016 Nasirnagar violence was an attack on the minority Hindu community led by radical Islamist groups in Nasirnagar Upazila, Bangladesh over an allegedly defamatory social media post by a Hindu fisherman against Islam on 30 October 2016. The attack left 19 temples and approximately 300 houses vandalized and over 100 people injured.
2001 Bangladesh post-election violence were a series of violent incidents following the 2001 Bangladeshi general election. The religious minority, the Hindus, were victims of targeted violence by supporters of Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
From 13 to 19 October 2021, Muslim mobs instigated communal violence against Hindu communities across Bangladesh during the Durga Puja festival, in response to a viral video where Quran was kept under a temple idol's feet. More than 50 temples and makeshift worship arrangements were vandalised all over Bangladesh.
