The Christian Welfare Trust and other human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) reported harassment, communal threats of physical violence, and social isolation for Christians who converted to Christianity from Hinduism and Islam. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHCUC) said “atrocities” against minorities continued but had slowed.
In meetings with government officials and in public statements, the U.S. Ambassador as well as other U.S. embassy representatives had spoken out against acts of violence in the name of religion, and encouraged the government to uphold the rights of minority religious groups and foster a climate of tolerance. The U.S. embassy had successfully urged government officials not to charge a Hindu activist with sedition.
According to the 2013 government census, Sunni Muslims constitute 89 percent of the population and Hindus 10 percent. The remainder of the population is predominantly Christian (mostly Roman Catholic) and Theravada-Hinayana Buddhist. The country also has small numbers of Shia Muslims, Baha’is, animists, Ahmadis, agnostics, and atheists.
Ethnic minorities concentrated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and northern districts generally practice a non-Islamic faith. The Garo in Mymensingh are predominantly Christian, as are some of the Santal in Gaibandha. Most Buddhists are members of the indigenous (non-Bengali) populations of the CHT.
Bengali and ethnic minority Christians live in communities across the country, with relatively high concentrations in Barishal and Gournadi in Barishal District, Baniarchar in Gopalganj District, Monipuripara and Christianpara in Dhaka and in Gazipur and Khulna. The largest noncitizen population is Rohingya, nearly all Muslims. Back in August 2017, approximately 740,000 Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar took refuge in Bangladesh. Nearly all who arrived during the 2017 influx sought shelter in and around the refugee settlements of Kutupalong and Nayapara in Cox’s Bazar District.
Since 2013, Bangladesh has experienced a series of violent attacks by extremists. The victims have included, besides atheists, secular bloggers, liberals and foreigners – many Buddhists, Christians and Hindus as well as Ahmadis and Shi’as. A large number of the attacks targeting religious minorities in particular have subsequently been claimed by the organization Islamic State (IS) – a claim vigorously denied by the Bangladeshi government, which has attributed the Communal violence – long a problem for religious minorities – continues to take place on a regular basis, driven by political rivalries, expropriation and the apparent impunity enjoyed by perpetrators. For religious minorities, who have borne much of the brunt of these attacks, this violence is the latest chapter in a long history of discrimination and segregation that goes back to the country’s independence and the legacy of colonialism, the 1947 Partition and the bloody civil war in 1971, during which the Hindu population in particular was targeted.
Despite the promise of the early years, with the passing of a Constitution that professed the equality of all faiths and the secularity of the state, the subsequent emergence of military rule and an increasingly restrictive religious nationalism saw religious minorities sidelined within their own country.
Though the return of democracy in the 1990s brought some improvements, discrimination has persisted. Indeed, in the shifting struggles between the currently ascendant Awami League (AL) and its opposition parties, in particular the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), non-Muslim groups have frequently become collateral victims of their rivalry and a divisive political environment that has seen both sides implicated in human rights abuses.
Bangladesh’s last federal election, in January 2014, was accompanied by some of the worst electoral violence the country has seen. The situation was further exacerbated by the BNP’s electoral boycott and the AL government’s heavy-handed treatment of opposition groups.
The variety of abuses they experience, from forced abduction and sexual assault to land grabbing and arson, have often seen the perpetrators go unpunished. In many cases, official policies have made religious minority rights more precarious rather than less.
While a stronger commitment to the rights and security of vulnerable communities, including religious minorities, would be welcome – especially as many rights abuses have been carried out with the apparent complicity of members of the police and military – this alone will not be sufficient. Beyond that, authorities must invest greater efforts through education, awareness raising and an open media to challenge demeaning stereotypes and champion respect for all beliefs.
The severity of communal violence in Bangladesh varies from year to year, its manifestations linked to a range of factors including domestic and regional politics, but also social and economic factors.
Bangladesh has a long history of home-grown extremist groups, including as the JMB which is active since the early 2000s and is now a close sympathizer of IS. It is responsible for a large number of attacks against Hindu priests, Buddhist monks and Shi’as. More recently, the Ansarullah Bangla Team has gained notoriety for its attack on bloggers, beginning in 2013, as well as its release of a lengthy ‘kill list’ of secular writers and activists in September 2015.
There has been no apparent slowdown in attacks carried out against minorities during the year. Nor were Hindus the only minority targeted. The most dangerous people in the world are not the tiny minority instigating evil acts, but those who do the acts for them. Today, a lot of dirty work is taken care of by ‘mercenaries’ who act as proxies for religious, ideological groups from all around the globe. 
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