Two Indian American lawmakers called on the U.S. government to intervene on the anti-Hindu violence that erupted in Bangladesh this week, India TV reports. Since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India on Monday after a violent crackdown failed to quell widespread student protests against a controversial governmental job quota system, at least 205 attacks against members of minority communities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh have been reported, according to India TV.
The Hindu minority in Bangladesh has especially been targeted because they have historically been viewed as supporters of Hasina’s Awami League party, India TV reports.
In two separate letters to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Congressmen Shri Thanedar (D-MI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) stated the importance of U.S. cooperation with the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.
“With Muhammad Yunus stepping up as the interim Prime Minister for Bangladesh, the United States has an obligation to assist this new government, to ensure that violence and civil unrest comes to an end,” Thanedar wrote in his August 9 letter to Blinken, according to India TV. “I urge the Biden administration to grant persecuted Bangladesh Hindus and other religious minorities temporary protected status as refugees.”
While many reports of anti-Hindu violence have not been able to be independently verified, The New York Times reports that attacks have occurred on Hindu temples and homes across at least four districts in Bangladesh. On Monday, at least 60 people were reportedly killed after Hasina fled the country.
“Sadly, this is not the first time that anti-government protests in Bangladesh have metastasised into anti-Hindu violence,” Krishnamoorthi wrote in his August 8 letter to Blinken, according to India TV. “The anti-Hindu riots in October 2021 left nine people dead amidst the destruction of hundreds of homes, businesses and temples…In 2017, more than 107 Hindus were killed and 37 ‘disappeared’…following the International Crimes Tribunal conviction of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Sayeedi for war crimes.”
Hundreds of counter protestors gathered on the streets of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on Friday to protest against the reports of anti-Hindu violence, chanting, “Who are we? Bengali, Bengali!” India Today reports.
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Hindus and Muslims in India, they have been fighting and killing each other for decades. For America to take a side casually would not be wise.