A US report has said members of religious minority communities alleged that the government was ineffective in preventing forced evictions and land seizures stemming from land disputes.
The 2021 International Religious Freedom Report of the US State Department also highlighted implementation of construction projects on land traditionally owned by indigenous communities in the Moulvibazar and Modhupur forest areas by the government.
According to the report, some human rights activists said it was often difficult to determine whether these disputes and evictions were a result of deliberate government discrimination against religious minorities or of government inefficiency.
US embassies prepare the initial drafts of the report based on information from government officials, religious groups, nongovernmental organisations, journalists, human rights monitors, academics, media, and others.
The report says communal attacks on ethnic and religious minorities occurred in Bangladesh throughout last year.
It says in response to widespread anti-Hindu communal violence from October 13-24 that left several persons dead, including Muslims and Hindus, the government condemned the attacks, provided aid and additional security to Hindu communities, and brought criminal charges against more than 20,000 people.
Some Hindu community leaders said the actions the government took in response to the communal violence helped calm the situation.
Other Hindu organisations disagreed, saying the government took insufficient measures to quell the violence and stated the government’s failure to punish perpetrators of previous incidents of religious violence contributed to October’s events, reads the report.
The government continued to deploy law enforcement personnel at religious sites, festivals, and events considered possible targets for violence, added the report.
According to the US State Department’s website, while launching the report US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said all societies must do more to combat rising forms of hate, including anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim sentiment.
Blinken said, “At its core, our work is about ensuring that all people have the freedom to pursue the spiritual tradition that most adds meaning to their time on earth.”
US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain said rising societal intolerance and hatred are fuelling violence and conflict around the world. Governments must not sit silent or stand idly by in the face of such oppression.
