Dhaka, Jan 7 (IANS) Bangladesh’s administration has become increasingly dysfunctional since the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government assumed power following the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, enabling Islamist groups to escalate attacks on minorities, especially Hindus and Christians, a report said on Wednesday.

It added that a group of minority families in Muslim-majority Bangladesh are seeking protection from the authorities after being assaulted by local Muslims following Christmas.

“On January 1, five Catholic families from Tetulia village – under the St. Francis Xavier Church in Satkhira district in the southern part of the country – formed the human chain, claiming they were attacked at least four times by local Muslims in the past year,” a report in Catholic news website ‘Crux’ cited

“We were attacked right after Christmas. We are only five minority Christian families living here. About 50 people attacked us with local weapons,” Crux quoted Sabuj Goldar, a Catholic, as saying.

Alleging the Christian community has been attacked at least four times in the past year, Goldar said, “We are a minority, but we are citizens of this country. So why shouldn’t we get justice? We want security from the government; we want to live safely.”

The report stated that conflict followed a land dispute between Christian families and some local Muslim families, which remains pending in court.

“The Catholics have a problem with the locals over a piece of land. This incident led to attacks on Catholic families after Christmas. We are trying to resolve the incident by discussing it with local political leaders,” a Christian religious instructor in a neighbouring village told Crux.

The affected Christian families complained that although schools distributed books to the students at the beginning of the year, the local attackers prevented the students from attending the classes on January 1.

Confirming the incident, local police officer Jahangir Hossain stated that efforts were being made to resolve the issue both at the local level and through administrative channels.

In December last year, a report in the Union of Catholic Asian (UCA) News highlighted that the fears among Bangladesh’s Christian communities had deepened after a series of attacks on Christian institutions in Dhaka over the past few months.

According to the report ,crude bombs were thrown at Holy Rosary Church in Dhaka on October 8. Similar devices were thrown at St. Mary’s Cathedral on November 7 and at St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School and College in the capital the following day.

Earlier in November 2025, an extremist group in Bangladesh, ‘Tauhidee Muslim Janata’, issued threatening letters to Notre Dame College and Holy Cross College, alleging their involvement in religious conversion activities.

“All this has created a climate of fear ahead of Christmas. There is a palpable fear because of the recent trend of mob violence. We have to think twice before speaking,” UCA news quoted Father Joyanto S. Gomes, parish priest of Holy Rosary Church, as saying

–IANS

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