Violence against Minority Population in Bangladesh: Gains of Few and Loss of the Nation Dr. Ferdous Jahan and Muhammad Ashikur Rahman Team Members of the Study Study Conducted by Dr. Ferdous Jahan Dr. Ferdous Jahan is a professor of Public Administration at the University of Dhaka. She has done her PhD in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,USA. She has had a blend of academic knowledge and research experience in multifaceted fields. Her research and teaching focuses ongender issues, politics, financial management, policy implementation, public sector reform, food policy, food security,and social protection& safety net. Dr. Jahan's book titled "When Women Protect Women: Restorative Justice and Domestic Violence in South Asia" was published by South Asian Publishers, New Delhi India, 2008. She also contributed to a book "Labyrinthine justice framework of South Asia: Impediment to Pro-Poor Governance, edited by Amita Singh, Justice Nasser Aslam Zahid Saheb, SAGE India, 2007with the chapter "Gender, Violence and Power: Retributive versus Restorative Justice in South Asia." Dr. Jahan's articles have been published in International Journal of Public Administration; Public Organization Review, Springer, USA and Germany; Asian Profile, Canada; Critical Half etc. Professor Jahan has worked in many countries with a wide range of national and international organizations such as The World Bank, EU, UNDP, DFID, WFP, CARE, IDS, Sussex, ECORYS, TAF/ADB, BRAC-Research and Evaluation Division, Jerry Lee Center of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, Fels Institute of Governance. Muhammad Ashikur Rahman Muhammad Ashikur Rahman, graduated from the University of Dhaka, is a freelance writer who writes articles for newspapers and journals on several burning issues of the society such as gender violation, ethnicity, protests of the poor etc. He is a junior researcher working at BRAC Institute of Governance and Development. His areas of interest in research include public policy implementation, local governance, capacity development for tribal and ethnic population, environment and food security. Muhammad Rahman is a master program candidate at the University of Nottingham, UK majoring in Public Policy. Study Supported by Shahidul Islam Director Uttaran Fatma Halima Ahmed Coordinator Uttaran Mamun Ur Rashid Project Coordinator Uttaran Design : S. Akash, Anckur 65 Samsur Rahman Road, Khulna Printed by : Procharoni Printing Press 44, Sir Iqbal Road, Khulna. Phone : 813860 Published in March 2014 02 Contents FORWARD 04 Executive Summary 05 Introduction 06-07 Who are Minorities? 07 Historical Context of Violence against Minorities 08-12 The Recent Scenario 12-22 Factors behind Violence against Minorities 23-29 Is it Possible to Change the Trends of Violence Against Minorities? 29-32 Photo Galary 33-35 03 FORWARD Bangladesh requires creating an immense pace towards reduction of poverty and inequalities between man and woman, rural and urban and majority and minority in terms of religion, faith, creed, race and ethnicity. Uttaran, which started its journey at Jatpur village of Tala upazilla under Satkhira district, are protesting violence and disparity against marginalized. The organization is still proceeding forward along with the development-possibilities of local people in Southwest region of Bangladesh. Uttaran emphasizes on capacity building of vulnerable communities through different types of activities in order to ensure sustainable development. Bangladesh has shown the world that it has been able to expand its food production substantially, develop important new export industries such as ready-made garments and shrimp, improve areas of its health care and education social sectors and point the way to new potential solutions to global poverty. Despite of different kinds of challenges, Bangladesh's economy began to fare better, its population growth rate was reduced, and the country's overall poverty levels went into declined. The particularly period of 2013, Bangladesh has witnessed an increased level of political disturbance, confrontation and manifested into nationwide strikes, commonly called hartals. The hartal days are gripped with street violence between those supporting the strikes and the police force, and damaging and destroying of property. During the period, such political actions caused murders, burning down houses and business organizations and cutting down trees at Bangladesh particularly of southwest region i.e. Satkhira, Jessore, Khulna. Religious and ethnic minorities of suffered from frequent assaults, tortures, threats, displacement and marginalization. Human Rights are gravely in threat due to the extremist political activities. As a human rights based organisation Uttaran took initiative to conduct a study with objective to understand in depth rights violation situation of minorities communities particularly women, Hindu and untouchable communities, small farmers and labourers. The report focuses on Khulna, Jessore and Sathkira and adjacent regions, collecting data primarily from local minority people belonging mostly to Hinduism and from local journalists. We thank all the member of community who supported to collect information and journalists. We thank Dr. Ferdous Jahan and Mohammad Ashikur Rahman for their support to conduct the study. I wish you all the best. We are very much grateful to Misereor for their generous support for providing funding support to Uttaran for conducting this study. Shahidul Islam Director Uttaran 04 Executive Summary After the new government came to power in its second consecutive term through the recent controversial election, the conditions for minority communities of the country's different regions was expected to improve but unfortunately remained extremely distressing. The scale of violence went up with the supporters of war criminals further exacerbating the overall situation. Religious and ethnic minorities of Bangladesh particularly of southwestern region suffered from frequent assaults, tortures, threats, displacement and marginalization in the last 10 to 12 months. However, exploiting these vulnerable people is not an entirely new phenomenon in Bangladesh. Having analyzed the historical context of minority persecution in Bangladesh, we have found that the trend continued since the riot of 1964; through the liberation war in 1971, the regime of dictatorship in 1980, in the run up to the 2001and 2008 elections to date. Although recent incidents received some coverage in the media, however, a thorough investigation on this issue with necessary measures to take has not yet been done. Some groups, individuals and researchers have tried to bring the issue to the limelight but those do not seem sufficient for the government to take the issue in hand ensuring swift and severe punishment of the miscreants and peaceful co-existence of majority and minority citizens of the country. The paper blending previous researches, media coverage and our analysis, argues that apparently there is politics encompassing two major possessions of minority people which are 'vote' and 'land'. Political parties particularly ruling parties during their regimes benefit most out these two possessions, the reason why politics persists around minority people in Bangladesh. Other reasons behind violence against minorities range from economic, social, cultural and religious backgrounds, to ideological standpoint of secular and Islamist parties. The paper focuses on Khulna, Jessore and Satkhira and adjacent regions, the south-west coastal areas of Bangladesh, given the recent attacks on minorities in these areas, collecting data primarily from local minority people belonging mostly to Hinduism and from local journalists. We also collected secondary data from various researches conducted on minority issues, reports and newspapers. The report details evidence of violence against Hindu and other ethnic communities, including arsons, killing, rape, attacks on religious sites; and intimidation, political influence, displacement and consequential loss of properties. The report suggests that minority Hindus represent the most vulnerable section of the study area. The ongoing violence has seriously affected their lives and properties and may inhibit their right to express their religious and ethnic identity. These limitations may in turn restrict their access to education, health services, and employment and even threaten their existence in the region. The report highlights how political, economic, religious and cultural factors are responsible for communal fracas in Khulna, Jessore and Satkhira and how violence helps influential groups to occupy minority people's lands and properties. It also shows the migration trend of minorities particularly Hindus to the neighboring Hindu-majority West Bengal and other parts of the country. Roles of the government, socio-cultural and political groups and media on minority issues have also been discussed in the paper. In looking for solutions, the report focuses on the urgent need for formulating a special act and forming a national minority commission. A constitutional provision to safeguard minority rights is also urged as the constitution of Bangladesh recognizes no minority in the country and contains no special provision for their protection and promotion. Forming a separate ministry on minority affairs and formulation of policy delineating their rights, promotion plan, and stern penalty for any sort of violence against them are also recommended.