Brandywine Week-in-Review: Terror in Bangladesh
By Kristen Buck
November 30, 2001
"Nearly 200 women, ranging in age from 8 to 70 were raped in one night in Char Fashion in Bhola," writes Sandip Roy of the Pacific News Service.1 This statement, halfway down the page of an article on Alternet.org first drew my attention to the current conflict in Bangladesh.
Unconfirmed reports claim that Islamic extremists in Bangladesh have been raping women, burning homes, beating young boys to the point of breaking their bones and committing other violence against the Bangladeshi Hindu minority.2,3 In the villages of Rauzan and Rangunia, minorities were, reportedly, told by Muslim extremists on October 27th that they would have to pay a monthly tax in order to continue living in Bangladesh.4 A month after the October 1st elections, supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) "went on a rampage near Chittagong killing minorities and destroying their places of worship."5 While some incidents have been reported (including a brazen and deadly attack in broad daylight against Gopal Krishna Muhuri, a former freedom fighter), one source suggests that most of the atrocities have gone unreported due to fear and that police are even refusing to record rape cases.6,7
Something is afoot in Bangladesh. The question is whether this is an example of religious violence, political violence, or simply part of the status quo.
Political Change
The reports coming out of Bangladesh suggest that the violence has largely been committed since the October 1st election, in which the right wing Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by Ms. Khaleda Zia won a large majority of the parliamentary seats, defeating the former majority, the 11-party Left Alliance led by Ms. Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina's Party, the Awami League, claims that the elections were rigged and that the people do not accept the results as legitimate.8 The BNP claimed that the Awami government has been voted out because criminals tied to the Awami League had committed violence without receiving punishment, resulting in an increasing sense of insecurity on the part of the citizens.9 A U.S. government official confirmed this assertion.10
An article in the Indian newspaper The Hindu reports claims by the Awami League that many minority voters "failed to cast their votes due to threats."11 The report also states that "The Election Commission suspended voting in at least 40 centres across the country, following armed clashes, snatching of ballot boxes, fake voting and clashes between rival parties."12 The UN and national observers, however, said the elections were fair.13
Under Hasina's rule, Bangladesh struggled with corruption while making gains in infrastructure. Under her leadership agricultural production boomed as Bangladesh suddenly became a food-surplus country. Seven bridges are nearing completion and hundreds of kilometers of expressway have been built.14 A recent column by Thomas L. Friedman claimed that "all the economic and social indicators have been pointing upward lately" in Bangladesh.15 The poverty rate, currently at 45 percent, has been "dropping by one percent every year."16
The Government Response
The BNP, headed by Khaleda Zia, pledged to restore law and order if elected. Instead, they have released the members of their own party who have committed violent acts during the previous administration, and jailed people affiliated with the Hasina government. The BNP exists as an alliance of four rightist parties including two Islamic fundamentalist parties, Jamaat-e-Islami (which is "stridently anti-Indian") and Islami Oikya Jot (the Islamic United Front).17
There is some conflict as to whether or not the Bangladeshi government is responding adequately to this upcropping of violence. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has sent police and paramilitary forces into some cities to restore order.18 However, it is the rural areas that have been prone to the most attacks.19 Another report says that the government denies that Hindus have been attacked at all.20 Few are hopeful that the government will be able to improve its response in short order. The High Court of Bangladesh recently ordered the new government to explain why it has not and should not be asked "'to take proper steps to protect the country's religious minorities from terrorist attacks on minorities.'"21
According to a U.S. government official, while "violence in any country is always of concern" and "under careful watch" by U.S. government agencies, there was similar violence in Bangladesh long before the elections. The violence is not new and does not seem to be targeted at Hindus. The official said, "The media coverage is largely inaccurate based on anecdotal rather than investigable evidence." In fact, the inability to investigate the violence is an important issue. The European Union, Japan, the U.S. and other countries which give development assistance to Bangladesh have begun an investigation into these reports. They can, however, only investigate those incidents that have enough details that can be checked and evaluated for validity.22
The Refugee Situation
India has reaped some of the consequences of this supposed brutality through an influx in refugees into West Bengal. The Indian government has instructed border guards to shoot anyone crossing illegally into India from Bangladesh.23 Already this has resulted in the killing of a ten year-old Hindu girl and another Bangladeshi Hindu boy.24 While some Indians are harboring these illegal immigrants in their homes, West Bengal is struggling to repair the fence along the 224-km border it shares with Bangladesh.25,26 Some of the refugees have gone on record saying that if they must choose between going back to Bangladesh and being shot by security forces, they would rather be shot.27 The Geneva convention on refugees (1951) says that "anyone who flees his country due to a well-founded fear of persecution on grounds of race, religion, or political opinion ought to be given refuge."28
Officials in the U.S. government have suggested that the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees should be dispatched to determine the actual level of refugee flow. There are already an estimated 13 million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India and it is too early to say if this new influx of immigrants can legitimately be considered refugees under international law.29
Violence among Bangladeshi citizens and emigration from Bangladesh are not new. However, reports of violence targeted at a particular group of religious minorities without sufficient government effort to quell this violence is a serious cause for concern. Only continued investigation will bring to light whether the recent events are linked most closely to political or religious divisions.
Source: http://www.globalengagement.org/issues/2001/11/bwr-terror.htm