UN Report Reveals Violent Attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh Amid Political Turmoil

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A United Nations report has highlighted alarming violent attacks against the Hindu minority in Bangladesh amidst political unrest that led to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation in 2024. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), these assaults included property destruction, arson, and physical threats directed at Hindus, who represent approximately eight percent of the nation’s 170 million population.

The report details that as protests erupted over job quotas, the Hasina administration lost control, allowing mobs in cities including Dhaka and Chittagong to engage in retaliatory violence. The OHCHR found that local authorities, including police and political figures, failed to protect victims from these attacks. The interim administration led by Nobel laureate Md Yunus has since acknowledged 88 instances of communal violence, predominantly targeting Hindus, and reported that 70 individuals had been arrested in connection with these incidents. The UN's findings suggest that systematic human rights violations may have occurred under the previous government, raising serious concerns regarding the treatment of minority communities in Bangladesh.

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