Bangladesh: Most incidents of attacks on minorities are politically motivated, Yunus government admits mistake

Dhaka: The Bangladesh government on Saturday, citing a police report, said that most of the incidents of attacks and vandalism against minorities in the country after August 4, 2024 were not of communal but political nature. Bangladesh Police has issued a WhatsApp number to maintain contact with the minority community and directly receive complaints of communal violence. The press wing of Mohammad Yunus, chief adviser to the interim government, said in a statement that the police carried out the investigation after the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council claimed that from a day before Sheikh Hasina left the country on August 5 till Till January 8, 2,010 incidents of communal violence have been recorded.

According to the statement, 1,769 of these incidents were related to attacks and sabotage, police have so far registered a total of 62 cases based on the claims and at least 35 accused have been arrested based on the investigation. However, the statement claimed that the investigation found that in most cases the attacks were not of communal nature, but were politically motivated.

1,234 incidents were of political nature

It said police investigation revealed that 1,234 incidents were political in nature, 20 incidents were communal and at least 161 claims were false or fraudulent. According to the statement, 1,452 incidents (82.8 per cent of the total incidents) claimed by the council occurred on August 5, 2024, when the Hasina government was ousted from power. At least 65 incidents occurred on August 4 and 70 incidents occurred on August 6. According to the statement, from August 5, 2024 to January 8, 2025, apart from the council's claim, the police also received 134 complaints of communal violence. It said police acted on all complaints on priority and registered at least 53 cases and arrested 65 accused.

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Total 115 cases registered on the basis of complaints

According to the statement, a total of 115 cases have been registered based on complaints of communal violence since August 4 last year and at least 100 people have been arrested in these cases. Before preparing the report, Bangladesh Police collected a list of alleged communal incidents that the council claimed had happened and spoke to everyone who had experienced violence. The police visited every place and every establishment where these incidents took place.