CALCUTTA, INDIA, October 18, 2002: With the media’s focus turned to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, some believe their attention has been turned off Bangladesh while Islamic extremism has been on the rise there. Minority Hindus, Buddhist, Christians, Tribals, and liberal Muslims are under threat as religious intolerance takes hold following the victory of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) in the October 2001 elections. The BNP is led by Khaleda Zia, widow of the assassinated military dictator General Zia, who amended the original Constitution, replacing secularism with the “Sovereignty of Allah.” The Islamic supremacist Jamaat-e-Islami party is a key constituent in her governing coalition. The party has argued that strict Islamic sharia law should be implemented in Bangladesh, just as it was by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Jamaat collaborated with Pakistan during the bloody 1971 war of liberation, in which 3 million civilians were murdered. A list of human rights violations on members of Bangladesh’s minority religious population is being graphically documented by Mayer Dak correspondents based there. Readers may log onto “source” above for the full report.
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