Press Conference demanded justice: Rape & Murder of Indigenous women in CHT, Bangladesh

Source: Kapaeeng Foundation

A press statement of Durbar Network Programme which was read out at the press conference held on 16 September 2009 in Khagrachari press club demanding arrest of Bengali settlers involved with the recent sexual violence against indigenous Jumma women in Sindukchari and Dighinala in Khagrachari for your kind pursuant.

(Note: The press statement is written in Bengali, a Translation will be available soon)

Ruling partymen grabbing minority properties and continuing repression in Bangladesh: American Chronicle

By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
Source: American Chronicle
url: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/116878

The latest incident took place on Friday, when 9 members of a Hindu family at Dhaka´s Rhishikesh Das Lane were abducted by a group of miscreants mostly belonging to the ruling party under patronization of the local police station. According to reports, operation officer at Sutrapur police station, A B M Forman Ali was already aware of the abduction of the members of the religious minority group and grabbing of their property.
But he did not take any action in either preventing such incident or even rescuing the abducted members of the Hindu family as several influential leaders of the ruling party were already involved with this notorious crime.According to several investigations, series of meetings took place between a property development company named Anandadhara Housing Limited and few influential local leaders of Bangladesh Awami League.
Student front leaders of the ruling party also attended these meetings. Subsequently local police station was informed and instructed to remain silent to give chance to the party cadres in abducting members of the Hindu family thus illegally grabbing their property.
Owner of the house Mohabir Das told reporters that, they were abducted by the members of the ruling party and taken to a workshop named Janata Engineering at 65 Rhishikesh Das Lane. Several police officers were also seen with the abduction gang, while 9 members of the Hindu family were abducted. It is also learnt that, police gave chance to the abductors in escaping arrest, although at least 6-7 abducters were present when police rescued the abducted minority members from the mentioned workshop.
It may be mentioned here that, Bangladesh Awami League claims to be a secular political party and always claims to be defending right of religious minorities in Bangladesh. But, in reality, there is no qualitative difference between Awami League or any of other fanatic political parties in the country, as far as minority right is concerned. Since the new government came in power during the general election of 2008, series of incidents of grabbing of properties of religious minorities, abduction, rape, forceful conversion, murder etc is continuing to take place. According to reports, since the Awami League government came in power, on an average, there is more than 3 cases of minority repression in Bangladesh on every alternative day.
Although Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina promised to ensure safety and security to the members of religious minority in the country, her government possibly is heading towards creating a record of minority repression since the independence of Bangladesh.
Most interestingly, whenever any ruling party activist is involved in any sort of notorious crime, starting from extortion to murder to rape etc., law enforcing agencies are always seen reluctant in taking any action against the perpetrators as there is reportedly silent instructions on the police and other law enforcing agencies to ´ignore´ some of the ´activities´ of the ruling party men. Moreover, influential ruling party leaders compel the police in dropping most of the cases lodged against their partymen for various forms of criminal activities.
The present government is also completely silent in taking any initiative in cancelling the Vested Property Act. It may be mentioned here that, under this hated Vested Property Act, huge volume of properties of religious minorities especially Hindus are grabbed mostly by influential political leaders and politically blessed people belonging to almost all the political parties in Bangladesh.The present government also continues illegal ban on the religious publications of Ahmediya religious minority group in Bangladesh.
Such ban was enforced by the BNP led Islamist government few years back, when some local fanatics continued anti-Ahmediya activities and demanding declaring Ahmediyas as ´non Muslims´.Repression of religious minorities should immediately come to an end in Bangladesh. The government should immediately withdraw ban on the publications of Ahmediyas; cancel the Vested Property Act and ensure proper protection to each and every members of the religious minorities in this country.
Moreover, stern action should be initiated against those who are continuing various forms of crime and harrassment on the religious minorities in Bangladesh. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should take personal initiatives in blowing a huge slap on the faces of her own partymen, who are now continuing such repressions on the members of the religious minority groups. If the government led by Sheikh Hasina will fail to show their commitment to the religious minorities in the country, it will for sure, completely devastate the very image of Hasina´s government and party.

Bangladeshi Hindu Abducted, Forced to Convert to Islam: CFP

By Dr. Richard Benkin
Source: CFP
Url: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/14606

I previously reported on the abduction of a young Hindu woman from her family’s home in northern Bangladesh (Bangladeshi Hindu Abducted, Forced to Convert to Islam, Canada Free Press, August 11, 2009). At 12:45am on June 13, five Muslims broke into a home in the village of Ghosai Chandura, vandalized it, and grabbed the 21-year old the college student Koli Goswami from her bed.
She cried out, but the men easily overpowered her. They covered her head to muffle the screams, but not before others in the house heard them and came to her aid. But the perpetrators drove them off with gun fire and carried Koli off even as she struggled to break free. Her family has not seen her since that night.
The Bangladesh Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) first reported the inciden; and two human rights organizations, Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD) and Bangladesh Minority Watch (BDMW) have investigated the incident.
Even though these groups have a history of credibility in these matters, the sad fact is that such reports are often exaggerated. This one is not. Our own investigation confirmed the abduction itself and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh’s complicity in it.
We already knew that the police denied any crime occurred and refused to pursue a case; this despite physical evidence of a break-in, which they admit having; the family’s video taped testimony; the legal complaint lodged by Koli’s guardian; and the family’s pleas for them to help locate and recover their daughter.
Police told GHRD and BDMW representatives, “It is not kidnapping. It is love affairs between kidnapper and victim.” Kidnapper? Victim? That hardly sounds like a love affair.
Yet, police continue to insist that even while refusing to explain the basis for their conclusion, their investigation, or why they dismiss the physical evidence that refutes their claim. Nor can they explain why it took five grown men—including an accused murderer—to “convince” Koli to leave home.
Bikash Halder, my associate in India, led the investigation. He dispatched four men to the family home where they spoke with Koli’s uncle and guardian, Professor Beraj Goswami. He claims to have faced nothing but corruption, duplicity, and collusion in the crime from police.
When he filed a complaint immediately after the kidnapping, he expected quick action given the nature of the crime. Instead, he met with police denial—but still insisted on producing Koli to clarify what happened that night. Instead, they produced suspect “affidavits and other so-called marriage of conversion documents,” dated from the time of the girl’s captivity. The only way to determine their veracity would be for Koli Goswami herself to testify in a safe environment that the documents were not secured under duress.
Instead, Goswami told Halder, the following sequence of events occurred. First, the Investigating Officer agreed to help him in exchange for a 25,000 Taka bribe, which Goswami paid. He ordered him to return to the Nandail police station on June 21 and wait while the police retrieved his niece.
After some time, they returned instead with an older woman in a Muslim burka that covered her identity. She said she was Koli Goswami’s mother and that her daughter converted to Islam because of a love affair—something Koli’s real mother disputed numerous times. Goswami denies that the woman was his sister-in-law, but cannot fathom the attempted deception since he could learn the truth by speaking to the woman he knew to be Koli Goswami’s mother. There is a final, rather chilling element to the June 21 meeting: the local Awami League MP, Retired General Abdus Salam, was present during the episode and threatened Goswami should he proceed with the case any further or dispute the conversion.
Curiously, while the police did not produce Koli that day, they now claim that she was present at a secret hearing held the next, about which the family was never told until after it allegedly occurred. They cannot confirm that their daughter was there or that it even took place. Goswami “protested vehemently” and told Halder that as a result “we are afraid we may further be attacked and our adult daughters abducted.”
What is not in dispute is: there was a home invasion; a family’s daughter was taken and has not been seen since; the alleged perpetrators have been identified and at least one is a known criminal; and the police refuse to pursue a case. We also know that a magistrate and the police claim that Koli converted to Islam, and a government official from the ruling Awami League warned the family to stop fighting it.
The incident itself is a crime, but making matters worse is the fact that it remains a common occurrence in Bangladesh. Victims are universally young women and girls, sometimes boys, of child bearing years or younger, and almost always Hindu or Christian.
Their choice is deliberate and as such, meets the fourth condition of genocide, as described in the international Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: “Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. Islamists have been following this pattern of ethnic cleansing for years. It is consistent with figures gathered during the period of Arab terror bombings in Israel. They disproportionately bombed places frequented by Israeli Jews of childbearing years or younger, children and even babies especially in Judea and Samaria: clubs like Mike’s Place in Tel Aviv, markets where young mothers shop, shopping malls, and so forth. What Islamists cannot gain because they are militarily weak and morally bankrupt, they try to gain through genocide.
The destruction of Bangladeshi minorities has proceeded apace for decades. There has been no outrage by the supposed guardians of human rights. In its most recent report on Bangladesh, Amnesty International did not even mention the problem. This is not new, but since January, apologists especially on the left, have held that the leftist Awami League government will change things. It is an article of faith with them, and nothing could be further from the truth. There is no internal dynamic among Bangladeshi leaders of any party to end minority oppression.
First, they do not care. The only difference between the Awami League and its nationalist rivals is that the former will say that it is wrong; their actions are the same. Second, neither has the political will to anger Islamists and the votes they control—something that numerous Bangladeshi officials have admitted to me particularly in their refusal to stop their admittedly a false prosecution of pro-US, pro-Israel, and anti-Islamist Muslim Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. And third, the parties, especially the one in power, get too much graft from the property looted from the victims and in the bribes they receive to turn the other way at the criminal acts. Figures again show that the Awami League’s history of collusion in that.
Americans know little about Bangladesh other than its poverty and natural disasters. They do not know that Islamists have taken over the institutions in this third largest Muslim-majority country and that they supply shock troops fighting in several hot spots. And consider this: at the time of the 1947 India-Pakistan partition, Hindus made up almost one third of the population in the territory known today as Bangladesh.
Today, they are but nine percent. That population shift is part and parcel of international jihad, and jihadi organizations including Al Qaeda have found a fertile and save haven in Bangladesh. They now threaten parts of India as well. This is not the Islamist war on civilization that makes headlines in the West, but it is real and growing with the passive and active complicity of the government of Bangladesh, an Islamic republic. Incidents such as that of Koli Goswami are part of it, and if they are not addressed strongly and stopped, they will bring an end to Bangladesh’s minorities in our lifetimes.

Bangladeshi minorities in volatile situation: American Chronicle

Source: Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
American Chronicle
url: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/119748


On Friday, September 11, 2009, a group of 10-12 armed cadres of the ruling party suddenly attacked House number 88, 96 and 98 at Reboti Mohon Das Lane at Dhaka at around 1:00 pm.

Only 18 days back, a group of ruling party thugs abducted, tortured and raped members of another minority family at city´s Sutrapur area, which came in the local and international media. But, the government did not take any action against the culprits belonging to the ruling party.

Now, just in less than three weeks of the notorious incident of grabbing Hindu property at Sutrapure area only 18 days back, another incident took place at broad day light on Friday, September 11.

Resident of 88, 96 and 98 at Reboti Mohon Das Lane, Ms. Bashanti Rani told reporters that, they have been living on this land for decades. But, since Awami League came in power in January 2009, four Hindu families were evacuated from this property in March by groups of thugs under the command of local Awami League leader. The ruling party thugs were threatening remaining 11 families on the property for months.

At around 1 p.m. on Friday, a groups of armed thugs belonging to the ruling party went to the spot and asked the Hindu residents to immediate leave the property. As the Hindu family members started shouting seeking help from the neighborhood, local people got organized and chased the miscreants, who started shooting from fire arms and went inside Sutrapur police station and took refuge. Local people surrounded the police station and demanded immediate action against the culprits. But, police, instead of arresting the criminals, rather denied to lodge any complaint from the Hindu families and accorded VIP entertainment to the ruling party thugs inside the police station and escorted them up to the adjacent office of Bangladesh Awami League.

It is alleged that the ruling party thugs were led by Nizam Uddin Nizam [President, Bangladesh Awami League, Ward No 80] and his brother Abdul Qaiyum. While contacted the Awami League leader denied the fact of his any hands behind attempt to vacate the Hindu property, but he said, the Hindu families were residing there illegally.

Officer-in-charge of Sutrapur police station, Tofazzal Hussain said, the Hindu families are living on the property illegally so the police did not accord any protection to them. It may be mentioned here that, the much publicized abduction and rape incident of Hindu families took place 18 days back under direct patronization of the same officer-in-charge of Sutrapur police station.

Members of law enforcing agencies repeatedly said in past that there is verbal instruction on all police stations to ignore any incident where ruling party members are involved.

It may be mentioned here that, on February 22, 2009, a group of ruling party thugs led by one Shamim from Directorate General of Forces Intellogence [DGFI] attacked the office of Weekly Blitz on broad day light in presence of members of law enforcing agencies and looted valuables thus physically assaulting the members of the newspaper. On the same day a case was lodged with Paltan Police Station in Dhaka. But, till date, neither the police arrested the culprits nor there is any sign of investigation into the matter.Several officers of Paltan police station told reporters that, they were instructed to refrain from taking any action against the ruling party thugs, who were behind attack on the newspaper office on February 22, 2009. At such situation, various forms of criminal activities by the members of the ruling party are continuing in the country almost on a daily basis. And, now here is another disturbing news of attack on Hindu temple by some miscreants belonging to the ruling party at Bangladesh´s southern district of Kushtia.

According to information, several perpetrators entered two Temples at Kushtia, damaged Hindu deities´ Sunday, September 07, 2009 at night. Such tragic incident took place in the Hindu neighborhood just few weeks before the biggest Hindu festival named Durga Puja.There are two temples named "Halder Matri Sarbajanin Durga Mandir" and " Raj Kumar Kali Mandir" which are know as oldest in the locality. On the day of incident, criminals broke door locks and entered the temples, demolished Durga and Kali deities. Naba Kumar Dutta – President of Bangladesh Puja Ujjapan Parishad of Kumar Khali Upazila expressed grave concern at the heinous act on the deities and demanded exemplary punishment of the perpetrators. He said, no civilized society can tolerate such crime against religion. On initial investigation it was found that some local political thugs demanded extortion from the Hindus on the eve of Muslim festival named Eid. Being failed to extract money from the Hindu community, ruling party thugs staged such notoriety on temples with the ulterior motive of creating reign of terror in the locality.Biggest Hindu festival Durga Puja will be celebrated throughout the world during end of September this year. In all previous years, government accorded proper protection to temples around the country. But, this year, for the first time, Hindu temples are attacked and deities demolished weeks before the festival, which surely will not leave good signal for the present government in Bangladesh.

Christian Evangelist beaten to death in Bangladesh

Photo (courtesy: modernghana.com): Police officer Wahid being interviewed by the author about the murder of Swopon Mondol. (Photo Dipal Barua)

Source: Modernghana.com

Url: http://www.modernghana.com/news/239430/1/christian-evangelist-beaten-to-death-in-bangladesh.html

A Baptist youth minister and evangelist of the Free Christian Churches of Bangladesh was found seriously wounded in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, on Dhaka University's campus, in the evening of Sept. 12, 2009. Free Christian Churches of Bangladesh has been active for 25 years and has 320 churches and 30,500 members.

The church has faced severe problems during the second Iraq War, and, at various times, evangelists were persecuted. Police Sub-inspector Mohammed Wahid, of the Sahabag police station, said, "On Sept. 12, at around 8 p.m., I got a message that an unidentified man was found seriously wounded outside of Suhrawardi Park.

I rushed to the scene and found the wounded man, and immediately took him to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Meanwhile, we came to learn from him that his name is Swopon Mondol and that he is a worker of Free Christian Churches of Bangladesh. His wife, Lucky Mondol, came to the hospital when she was informed about the incident.

I left him at the hospital for treatment since his wife was there. Later, I came to know that Mondol died at 12:10 p.m., meaning in the early hours of Sept. 13."From local people, I came to know that Swopon Mondol and three or four people with him ran after some Dhaka University students over the issue of a theft. One of the students ran to the nearby campus and brought more students, who then beat Mondol brutally, until he fell down onto the floor."Lucky Mondol, the wife of the dead Christian evangelist, said, "My only son, Diptoo (age 10), and I rushed to the hospital. Some youth came to the hospital and wanted money, threatening me. My husband was fighting for his life, and this group of violent youths were threatening me and demanding 1400 taka, saying that my husband stole one of their mobile phones. I found myself helpless. I prayed for my husband."

I am afraid to file a police report. Who will guarantee my safety and give me money to pay for the case? I don't doubt that the violent people who beat my husband brutally and even came to the hospital afterward might kill me if I file a police report. And now it's a challenge for me and my son Diptoo to even survive, because my husband was the only earning member of our family." Sulekha Mondol, Mondol's sister, said, "We are so poor, and we are in the minority. My brother Swopon was very pious and very patient. He preached the good news of Christ, yet such a good man was killed like an animal. Now we are afraid, and we don't feel safe. Many Christian evangelists have been killed, and no one has gotten justice. On Sept. 13, we buried my brother in fear and hoping for justice in our village. We could hardly arrange for the money to bury my brother and transport his body from the hospital to our village in Khulna."

Bishop Albert P. Mirdha of Free Christian Churches of Bangladesh said, "Swopon Mondol was really a very active church worker over the last 14 years, and we are all shocked by his murder. Minorities are not safe in Bangladesh."Human rights activist Annie Halder said, "According to Art. 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 'no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,' and, according to Art. 3, 'everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.' Here, we have seen that there is no security of life and that the Christian evangelist was tortured like an animal."

Inspector Wahid said, "I have been working for the police for a long time, and when I saw Mondol, he looked like a simple and gentle man. I can't imagine that he would steal anyone's mobile phone. Recently, at Dhaka University, some violent students have been harassing innocent people, and, in this case, a gentle man was brutally tortured and killed. A source has told us that the group of students were from Mohasin Hall and were led by Mohammed Rajan".

"Bangladesh / Ghana / Africa / Modernghana.com
Source: William Gomes

Bangladesh Destroys Hinduism, Buddhism: The Seoul times

Islamization Blamed on UK for Partition of British India

By Lee Jay Walker Tokyo
The Seoul Times Correspondent
The Seoul Times
Url: http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=8777


Image of Vishnu — Vishnu is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God. He is exalted as the highest God in Hindu sacred texts like the Taittiriya Samhita and the Bhagavad Gita.

Image of Vishnu — Vishnu is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God. He is exalted as the highest God in Hindu sacred texts like the Taittiriya Samhita and the Bhagavad Gita.

The nation of Bangladesh is witnessing Islamization, just like Afghanistan in the distant past and currently now in Pakistan. It is clear that the Indian sub-continent flourished under both Hinduism and then Buddhism which came afterwards. Both faiths nurtured the very fabric of society but invading Islamic armies and the partition of India was one disaster after another. Therefore, just like Afghanistan, it would appear that one day you will have either complete Islamization or a very small minority which is on the margins of society.

Many stories are never told because of several factors. This applies to not being deemed important because of political factors and of course because of the abject failure of the mass media. Nearly everyone knows about the Palestinian problem or Tibet, but of course we have a deadly silence about the ongoing Islamization in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

However, the current crisis in Bangladesh should be headline news because minorities need to be supported and senior politicians in India must do more to raise this ongoing crisis. Also, the United Kingdom is responsible because the partition of India took place after the British colonial period and the Commonwealth should think about suspending both Bangladesh and Pakistan, on the grounds of failing to protect their respective minorities.

Before the partition of India took place you had sizeable minorities in what was to become Pakistan and Bangladesh. For example in modern day Pakistan the Sikh community is very small but prior to partition this community thrived in parts of what was to become Pakistan. Yet during partition many Sikhs were butchered and killed by Muslims, therefore, they had to flee from the outset.

Of course all religious groups suffered during partition and many innocents on all sides were murdered. Therefore, innocent Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and other minorities, fled in various directions because the situation was chaotic. However, if we look at events many decades later we see one clear reality and this reality is Islamization.

After all, the Hindu and Sikh communities of modern day Pakistan are very small and they face many hardships and it is clear that Islamization is in full swing. Also, in Bangladesh the Buddhist and Hindu minorities are dwindling rapidly and both communities have suffered greatly and the Christian community also faces many problems because of radical Sunni Islam. Yet in modern day India the Muslim population is still strong and vibrant.

Of course you have other minorities who also suffer enormous persecution, for example Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Also, in India some radical Hindus have attacked Christian minorities. Despite this, the nation of India is democratic and people from all faith groups can reach positions of power.

Also, the government of India believes in pluralism and Ahmadiyya Muslims have more rights in India than they do in Pakistan because radical Sunni Islamic zealots persecute the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in this nation. The same also applies to Shia Muslims in Pakistan, because often Shia Muslims are killed by Sunni Islamic extremists but in India they have much more freedom.

Therefore, Muslim minorities have greater freedom in India and other religious minorities like Jains and Zoroastrians can pray and worship freely in modern day India. It also must be remembered that Zoroastrians fled to India in order to escape religious genocide because Islamic fanatics destroyed Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia (modern day Iran) and other places in Asia where this faith had thrived before the rise of Islam.

If we look at the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan then it is clear that millions of Hindus have fled both nations because of systematic persecution. The consequences of partition are clear and the same applies to the nature of both dominant faiths. After all, the Islamic population remains vibrant in India because of the nature of Hinduism; however, the Hindu population is in freefall in both Bangladesh and Pakistan because of the nature of Islam and its theory of superiority, dhimmitude, and inequality in law which is sanctioned by Islamic Sharia law.

Clearly the growth of Hindu militancy is the legacy of countless Islamic invasions and many massacres throughout history; and the legacy of British imperialism which enabled partition to take place. Also, the ongoing de-Hinduization of Bangladesh and Pakistan is ongoing, therefore, Hindu militants are rightly worried that Bangladesh and Pakistan is following the Afghanistan scenario, whereby all non-Muslims turn into dust and even ancient monuments face destruction at the hands of radical Sunni Islamists.

Therefore, several years ago the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) held a major exhibition in America in order to highlight the continuing persecution of all minorities in Bangladesh.

Amalendu Chatterjee, HRCBM director, pointed out that the Hindu population was over 30 per cent in the 1940s in what was to become Bangladesh, however, today it is a mere 11 per cent. Given this, Amalendu Chatterjee comments that "It is time that the world should know what is happening with the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh." He also stated that the reasons for the decline of the Hindu population is ".....because of the atrocities perpetrated on the Hindus by the ruling class all these years."

Utsav Chakrabarti, a member of the Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT) stated that "All the representatives and their staffers reiterated the need to protect the rights of minorities and to deal with Islamic groups in a resolute manner."

American political leaders gave their support and Ed Royce, a Republican member of the House of Representatives, wrote "The international community must take an action against these genocidal acts now before this culture is extinguished and the minorities forcibly killed, converted or exiled in the face of an underground jihad."

Ed Royce also focused on the extreme " ... persecution faced by Hindus, Buddhists and Christians due to the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh." This threat, just like the systematic persecution and killings of Christians in Somalia is ongoing and it is based on the Koran, the Hadiths and the teachings of Mohammed.

Frank Pallone Jr. who is a Democrat member in the House of Representatives stated that "I was proud to be the Congressional sponsor of this important exhibition on human rights in Bangladesh. I believe it helped bring much-needed attention to the plight of minorities in Bangladesh who have suffered from increasing attacks over the past few years."

Rape was also highlighted because some Islamists use rape in order to convert Hindus to Islam forcibly. It is also important to add that Islamists use this same method in Egypt because countless numbers of Coptic Christian women have been raped by Muslims and then forcibly converted to Islam.

Therefore, Rosalind Costa who is a social worker highlighted the case of two girls who were raped and then forcibly converted to Islam after being gang-raped by Muslim jihadists. This applies to Rita Rani Das and Purnima Shil who were both gang-raped by Islamists.

The current reality is simple, in Pakistan the Hindu population is in complete freefall because only around 1% of the population is Hindu and now Islamization is taking place in Bangladesh. At the same time the Muslim population in India remains strong and vibrant. Therefore, it is clear that state sanctioned policies, Islamic radicalism and persecution is to blame and once more we are witnessing the reality of Islam in action.

Today all minorities face persecution and alienation in Bangladesh and Pakistan because of the role of radical Islam and natural Islamization based on discrimination and persecution. After all, inequality and discrimination is part and parcel of Islamic Sharia law and the Hadiths.

Therefore, will the international community stand up and debate this issue seriously or will the international community remain shackled by fear and indifference?

What is clear is that Buddhism and Hinduism is in mortal danger in Bangladesh and Christian minorities and Ahmadiyya Muslims also suffer.

When the partition of India happened it was clear that the Hindu minority was sizeable in both Bangladesh and Pakistan. However, within a short period of time we are seeing the demise of Hinduism in Pakistan and now the same is happening to both Buddhists and Hindus in Bangladesh.