At least 49 minority teachers in Bangladesh forced to resign since Aug 5: Minority organisation

Sarkar said that religious and ethnic minorities have faced attacks, looting, assault on women, vandalism of temples, arson attacks on homes and businesses, and killings since Hasina fled the country in August.

At least 49 teachers belonging to minority communities were forced to resign in Bangladesh following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5, news agency PTI reported quoting a minority organisation in the violence-hit nation.

The Bangladesh Chhatra Oikya Parishad, the student wing of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad, highlighted this at a press conference on Saturday, according to The Daily Star newspaper.

The coordinator of the Parishad, Sajib Sarkar, said that minority teachers across the country have faced physical assault, and at least 49 of them were forced to resign. However, 19 of them were reinstated later, the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Sarkar also said that religious and ethnic minorities have faced attacks, looting, assault on women, vandalism of temples, arson attacks on homes and businesses, and killings since Hasina fled the country in August.

Clashes broke out on August 4 when protesters attending the non-cooperation programme under the banner of the Students Against Discrimination with the one-point demand of Hasina’s resignation over a job quota system faced opposition from the supporters of the ruling Awami League, Chhatra League, and Jubo League activists, according to a report in The Indian Express. As the violence escalated, leaving at least 300 people dead, the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country.

Since then, the country has witnessed several incidents of violence against members of Hindu, Buddhist and Christian communities.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, currently leading the interim government as its Chief Advisor, met the country’s Hindu community leaders at a reception last week, and vowed to promote interfaith harmony.

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He said he wanted to build a Bangladesh where everyone can practice their faith without any fear and where no temple needs to be guarded.

According to the data compiled by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad organisations, members of minority communities in the country have faced at least 205 incidents of attacks in 52 districts since the fall of the Hasina-led government, PTI report stated.

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that ensued for days following the fall of the Hasina government, taking the death toll to over 600 since the anti-quota protests began in mid-July.

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