New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS) At the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Bangladesh’s interim chief advisor Muhammad Yunus spent most of his time blaming India for strained relations. He said that India is hosting Sheikh Hasina, who had created all the problems.

Bangladesh, which is witnessing a huge increase in persecution of minorities, has accused Hasina of committing crimes against humanity. While Bangladesh has sought her extradition, India has not responded to the matter.

The allegations by Yunus came against the backdrop of reports that minorities in Bangladesh face growing persecution. Since Hasina fled the country and Yunus took over, minorities, especially the Hindus, have faced growing persecution at the hands of radical Islamists.

At the 60th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the UN-EU Human Rights Officer, Charlotte Zehrer from Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD), drew international attention to the horrific conditions faced by the ethnic and religious minorities in Bangladesh.

She said that there have been multiple forms of abuse, which included assaults on homes and places of worship, gender-based violence such as rape, false blasphemy charges, confiscation of land, forced displacement and arbitrary arrests.

“Ensuring justice for minorities in Bangladesh is not only a national responsibility but also an international obligation,” Zehrer said.

India has raised this issue with Yunus on numerous occasions, but there has been no concrete response or action on this.

Officials say that the persecution is not sporadic, but institutionalised. It was largely under control when Hasina was in power, but following her ouster, it has gone up multi-fold.

The Intelligence agencies say that there is concrete evidence of the persecution being planned and organised. It is exactly similar to what is taking place in Pakistan. They want every minority wiped out. Moreover, it has always been the agenda of the Jamaat-e-Islami to ensure that Bangladesh becomes a complete Islamic nation.

The Jamaat, which literally calls the shots in Bangladesh, had pressured the government to release Mufti Jashimuddin Rahman, the leader of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT). Upon his release, he called for waging Jihad against the Hindus in Bangladesh. He even suggested that once they are done in Bangladesh, the ABT, which is a close ally of Al-Qaeda, should focus on West Bengal.

After the new regime took over, the ISI wasted no time in trying to set in motion its old agenda, and that was to make the Bangladesh minority free. With Yunus cosying up to Pakistan, enforcing this plan became much easier for the ISI.

Officials say that teams have been set up by the Jamaat and the ABT, among others, to target minorities. Some of them who are in better positions are put into jail, while others are targeted with violence. Indian agencies have learnt that these teams are given orders right from the top to target the minorities in a systematic manner.

Moreover, the police and other law enforcement agencies are told to look the other way when such atrocities are taking place. Statements given by the likes of terrorists such as Rahman not only signal a very dangerous trend in Bangladesh, but also indicate that they want the violence to spill over into India. By targeting minorities, they hope that it incites communal tensions in India, too. That has been the larger plan of the ISI and Jamaat, and it is evident that the Muhammad Yunus government is doing nothing about it.

–IANS

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