Bangladesh anti-Hindu riots: Sheikh Hasina government increases security around Dhaka temples

Following a series of anti-Hindu riots in Bangladesh, the government of Bangladesh has increased security around Hindu temples.

Md Shafiqul Islam, the commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, issued an order on Tuesday ordering the law enforcement agency to beef up security at temples and other places of worship in the city to prevent more communal violence.

On Sunday, the decision was given during a meeting at the Police Headquarters to review recent anti-Hindu incidents around the country.

In the violence unleashed by hardline Islamist mobs across Bangladesh, dozens of temples and Puja pandals were damaged and desecrated.

The bloodshed began with the alleged sacrilege of the Holy Quran during a puja pandal.

However, authorities eventually discovered that the Holy Quran was put in the pandal by a Muslim man, indicating that the wave of violence against Hindus was orchestrated.

"To prevent such events in Dhaka, we need to be more active, attentive, and increase our investigative watch [on temples]," Shafiqul added.

According to the commissioner, police presence has been enhanced at prominent puja locations to maintain security, and the cyber crime section has been directed to monitor social media for controversial information.

The zonal DCs, according to Shafiqul, would express sympathy with all those opposing the breakdown of communal peace across the nation.

According to estimates from a Deutsche Welle article quoting Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a Bangladeshi human rights organisation that tracks attacks on minority populations, approximately 3,600 attacks targeting Hindus have occurred in Bangladesh since 2013.

However, according to the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC), the real number of attacks might be significantly greater than the ASK's estimate.

According to the survey, Hindus have been targeted for vandalism and arson in over 550 homes and 440 stores and enterprises during the last eight years.

The violence against Bangladesh's Hindu minority is a troubling reflection of Islamist parties' continued influence in the nation, which has undermined the country's secular consensus since its founding 50 years ago.

(With inputs from agencies)