London, July 11 (IANS) Several top politicians from the United Kingdom, past and present lawmakers, human rights activists and members of the country’s various religious communities have urged the government led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to take strong steps against the Muhammad Yunus-led interim regime in Bangladesh for failing to secure the safety and well-being of religious minorities in the South Asian nation.
In a seminar titled ‘Bangladesh at crossroads: Role of International Community and Diaspora’, organised at the House of Commons by the Conservative Friends of Bangladesh (CFoB), it was highlighted that there were as many as 2,010 incidents of violence against Hindus between August 5 to September 20, 2024 after Yunus took over as Chief Advisor of the interim government following the ouster of democratically-elected Awami League government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Violence against Hindus in Bangladesh continued with 174 more violent incidents between September 21 to December 31, 2024. Since January 1 to June 30, 2025 there have been 258 incidents of violence perpetrated against Hindus.
It was mentioned that, in Yunus’s Bangladesh, police and army have turned into mute spectators as registration of 168 journalists was also nullified and 43 journalists were put behind the bars during the last 11 months of “irresponsible, non-transparent, unelected Yunus regime”.
The seminar was initiated by CFoB Chair Anjenarra Rahman-Huque and presided over by Bob Blackman, the MP for Harrow East who is also the Chairman of the 1922 Committee, Chair of the Backbench Business Committee since 2024 and the Parliamentary President of Conservative Friends of Bangladesh (CFoB).
The speakers mentioned that the religious minorities contribute to Bangladesh’s economic development and political stability and there should be proportional representation in politics so that minorities can take part in the process of elections to ensure establishment of justice, peace and harmony.
“Hindus are living in panic. They can’t sleep at home peacefully because they don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” said Haradhan Bhowmik of UK’s United Hindu Alliance.
Bhowmik stated that on June 26, one Hindu woman was raped in Muradnagar by a local politician in Cumilla and videos of her naked body were circulated on the social media around the world.
Representing the UK Buddhist community, Barrister Prasanta Barua shared his concerns about the radicalisation of society in Bangladesh and also referred to the arrest of 36 Bangladeshi extremists in Malaysia who allegedly have direct contact with ISIS, as conveyed by the Malaysian intelligence.
“This will obviously be a huge problem for Bangladesh if the government does nothing to control it,” he said.
The open movement of Harkat-ul Jihad-al Islami (HuJI) operatives in Dhaka, it was mentioned, further indicates the growing presence of radical forces in Bangladesh with the Yunus government not taking any serious action against them. Barua also pointed out his apprehensions about the continued attacks on indigenous people in Chittagong Hill Tracks.
Recently, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of former PM Hasina, had also spotlighted the ongoing turmoil in Bangladesh.
“A Hindu woman gangraped in Muradnagar by yet another mob in Bangladesh. For nearly 11 months, mob attacks, terrorism, and rape have continued across the entire country. Since August 2024, Yunus has emboldened the perpetrators of atrocities, mass killings, and human rights violations against Hindus by dismissing them as merely political issues,” he said in a post on X.
“Mob after mob continues to strike, yet they keep calling them pressure groups — pressure groups to whom Bangladesh is now held hostage. And as for their godfathers — we all know exactly who they are and what their identities are. Yunus and his allies are directly responsible for every rape incident, not just in Muradnagar, but across the entire country,” Wazed had added.
–IANS
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