Hindu festival in Bangladesh under tight security following attacks

DHAKA, Bangladesh â€”  Schoolteacher Supriya Sarker is glad to celebrate Bangladesh’s largest Hindu festival of Durga Puja but says the festivities would be more jubilant without the fear and violence that overshadow this year’s event.

In Muslim-majority Bangladesh, the weeklong celebration of the Hindu goddess Durga has strained the Hindu community with reports of vandalism, violence and intimidation in parts of Bangladesh. Hindus make up about 8% of the country’s nearly 170 million people, or more than 13 million people.

Despite government pledges to keep the festival safe, this year’s version, which ends Sunday, was subdued. It followed the ousting of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and attacks on minority groups, especially Hindus. Hasina left the country for India because of a mass uprising spearheaded by a student-led anti-government movement.

Bangladesh’s current interim leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has faced serious challenges in maintaining law and order since he took over in August. Durga Puja was seen as a test of his administration’s ability to protect minorities, whose communities have said the Yunus-led government is failing them.

Reports suggest that hard-line Islamists are becoming increasingly politically influential and visible since the fall of Hasina.

“It is a challenging time for us Hindus,� said Sarker, the schoolteacher, as she joined the Kumari Puja in Dhaka’s Uttara district. “We faced problems in the past as well, but we did not see such escalation earlier. This is our country, we want to live here peacefully with our Muslim brothers and sisters and others without discrimination or intimidation.�

Her concern comes as the country’s leading minority rights group, the Bangladesh Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Unity Council, said that between Aug. 4 and 20, a total of 2,010 incidents of communal violence targeting minorities, mostly Hindus, were reported. The group’s leaders said at least nine people belonging to minority groups were killed, four women were raped, and homes, businesses and temples were torched or vandalized.

In recent weeks, new incidents of vandalism were reported as the Hindu community prepared temples for Durga Puja. In Dhaka’s Uttara neighborhood, Hindus were forced to hold the festival in a smaller venue after a procession by Muslims called on authorities to not allow them to install idols in an open field.

Jayanta Kumar Dev, president of Sarbajanin Puja Committee, said they have reports of attacks on temples and idols before this year’s festival formally began Oct. 9.

Bangladesh’s Home Affairs Advisor Mohammad Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, and incumbent Army Chief Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman, had promised to provide adequate security, Dev said.

“They told us there’s nothing to be worried about. We became content and puja is taking place across the country,� he said.

But the situation remains tense.

This week, police arrested at least two members of an Islamic cultural group in the southeastern city of Chattogram after six of its members sang Islamic revolutionary songs inviting Hindus to join an Islamic movement after they took the stage of a temple on Thursday.

The video of the singing went viral on social media, drawing criticism as the authorities promised to arrest and punish those involved. Media reports said they belong to the student wing of the country’s largest Islamist party — Jamaat-e-Islami — but the party denied the allegation.

On Friday night, a firebomb was thrown at the Hindu Goddess at a temple in Dhaka’s Tantibazar area, creating panic among the devotees who thronged the temple. No one was hurt, police said. Media reports, quoting volunteers, said at least five people were injured after being stabbed by muggers.

Security was heightened after Friday night’s incident at the temple, authorities said.

Ankita Bhowmick, a resident of Dhaka, said she was happy with the security provided by the government, but such a situation is suffocating.

“We won’t need any security if we have the mentality and tendency that each individual can practice their religion according to their customs. There will be no fear,� she said at Dhaka’s Dhakeswari temple.

Home Affairs Advisor Chowdhury said special security measures would remain in place until the festival ends. He said apart from police and the usual security agencies, the military, navy and air force have also been deployed to ensure law and order beyond the Hindu festival.

Arpita Barman, a university student, was optimistic.

“People are jubilant. In the future we also want to see more people come here and celebrate puja,� she said. “I feel happy to see people irrespective of their religions here. We want to see such scenes in the future and a harmonious Bangladesh.�

Alam and Garjon write for the Associated Press.