The international community, encompassing both politics and media, tends to select emotional subjects that align with its interests while censoring those that do not.

Two recent examples amongst others:

• The ethnic cleansing of Christian Armenians in Upper Karabakh, by the Muslim Azerbaijan (September 2023), should have been fiercely battled by the UN and Europe, putting Azerbaijan before the Human Rights Council, as those organizations have done so well with Russia… Instead, the September 2024 Formula 1 Grand Prix was held in Baku (capital of Azerbaijan), in complete indecency towards the martyrized Armenian population – undoubtedly to grant a certificate of ‘good conduct’ to the Azerbaijani government.

• In Nigeria, thousands of Christians have been murdered over the years and their churches burned down, most of the time by the Islamist group Boko Haram, and other jihadist groups which are not really challenged by the central government. In 2023, 5014 Christians were massacred in Nigeria (representing 89% of Christians killed all over the world) without any subsequent international reaction…

Thus, the question arises: will the international community at least be moved, if not react, to what is happening before our very eyes in Bangladesh?

Introductory photo : 2 policemen killed and hanged by the feet under a bridge in Ashuliya (Bangladesh)

BANGLADESH

Summary: from Bangladesh’s birth to the situation in 2024

Formed by the Indian Partition in 1947*, East Pakistan lied on the Bay of Bengal. At the time, the power was held by West Pakistan, located some 1600 kilometres away, which did not satisfy the local population. In 1970, the “Independent Awami League” won the elections in East Pakistan. However, Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, did not recognize the victory. The same year, a devastating cyclone struck the region, causing around 500 000 deaths in Bangladesh. Support from West Pakistan was late and insufficient. That was the final straw. The next year, on 26th of March 1971, Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announced East Pakistan’s independence, which then became Bangladesh. In response, Pakistani authorities had him arrested and imprisoned. A violent civil war broke out, leading to more than 3 million deaths in 6 months…

Bangladesh’s nascent parliamentary democracy was founded on four essential principles: nationalism, democracy, socialism and secularism. To avoid internal conflict, the country strove to be secular (i.e., the state is neutral towards all religions), even though the population was predominantly Muslim: 91% of Sunni Muslims and 6% of Hindus.

The situation changed in 1988. Islam was then recognized as the official religion by the Constitution of Bangladesh.

Since 2016, the presence of Islamic State armed groups and Al-Qaeda has become evident in Bangladesh, and murders and kidnappings of religious minorities will multiply over the years.

It’s worth noting that Bangladesh is a gateway to India, pitting it with Pakistan to the west, and in this respect, it serves as a focal point for fundamentalist and armed groups: Bangladesh has therefore become a geostrategic area for radical Islam (see appendix below on groups operating from Pakistan).

15 years of hope before chaos**

Eldest daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahma, the founding father of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, also known as « the Iron Lady of Bangladesh », was ruling since 2009, after a first mandate between 1996 and 2001. Under her leadership, this country of 170 million inhabitants, once one of the poorest countries in the world, had enjoyed a significant economic surge thanks to the development of the textile industry: Bangladesh had recorded an annual growth rate averaging over 6% and overtaken India in terms of GDP per capita in 2021. The international community had even praised the opening of the country in 2017 to hundreds of thousands of muslims Rohingyas refugees fleeing from the massacres in Myanmar.

For a new mandate in late 2023, Sheikh Hasina had promised to « transform the whole of Bangladesh in a developed and prosperous country ». That was omitting the 18 million of young Bangladeshi, still unemployed and easy to manipulate for organized groups. When on the 5th of June 2024, 5 months into her new term in office, a handful of students called to demonstrate against the implementation of quotas in the entrance exams for civil service and administration, they sparked off a massive movement: daily protests, repression by police forces, violence from the demonstrators and numerous victims (409?). Until Sheikh Hasina’s precipitated departure on the 5th of August 2024 in an army helicopter, and the storming of the governmental Palace by thousands of protestors.

When chaos breaks out in a country, no matter what country, organized groups often act with a personal agenda at heart. That is what happened in Bangladesh in August 2024…

The prison invasion, a strategy to orchestrate attacks against Hindus

Prior to the formation of the interim government, fundamentalist forces of Bangladesh backed by Jamaat-e-Islami strove to eliminate Hindus. A deep-rooted conspiracy was thus fabricated to attack various prisons and free incarcerated Islamist militants and criminals. There is every reason to believe that trained spies from the Pakistani agency ISI, collaborating with fundamentalist student forces, fomented the conspiracy. They mingled with other students, attacked the prisons and freed the criminals. The real reason for the attack aimed at various prisons, especially in the Narsingdi district, was to save militants of Jamaat ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Harkatul Jihad al Islami (HuJI), and others…

After the departure of Sheikh Hasina and before the President of Bangladesh Mohammad Shahabuddin ordered the freeing of prisoners, conspirators wanted to free their compatriots: various prisons, including Narsingdi, Sherpur and Satkhira, were therefore attacked. After those escapes, the attacks against Hindus sharply increased. Police personnel were themselves affected by fundamentalist violence. It also seems like the army did not intervene to stop the prison attacks, despite provided information by leaders of the Awami League (presidential party), which casts doubt on the infiltration of pro-Pakistani sentiment in the army.

The role of Pakistan ?

Pakistan probably attempted to avenge the defeat in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, using the anti-quotas student movement. With financial support from other countries, the Pakistani spy agency ISI certainly planned the attack against the government, with a specific intention: establish an Islamic regime and diffuse the fundamentalist ideology.

Jamaat and its cadres control the student movement, which is why it quickly became so violent. It is proven today that Sheikh Hasina did not receive complete support from police and army forces to resist the dissident movement.

Infiltrated police forces?

Observers say that many of those responsible for maintaining public order rendered the situation more difficult by instigating: one section of the police force is said to have blood stains on it for the murder of some of its colleagues.

Trained Jamaat and ISI forces wanted to attack police forces. Therefore, they entered a police station, with the help of militants, and killed officers. Police buildings were also set on fire. It would have been impossible for pacified students to commit such an excruciating act … It takes trained forces to commit this kind of atrocity.

Dangerous prisoners injected into the student revolt

On the 23rd of July 2024, 826 prisoners (including nine hardened militants) were taken from the Narsingdi district prison, and 85 firearms and 8,000 bullets were looted from the prison's arsenal.

The Narsingdi prison bore no connection with the student movement. The attack was solely executed to save imprisoned Islamist militants. After their liberation, those terrorists contributed to the carnage in the country. Hindus were attacked with arms stolen from prison. Terrorists wanted to burn all historical documents relating to Bangladesh’s independence. The prison manager Abdul Kalam Azas and the jailer Kamrul Islam were suspended from their duty, yet they are now due to undertake greater responsibilities for the pro-Jamaat government.

Freeing the imprisoned fundamentalists was part of the insurrection plan

Similarly, fundamentalists attacked the Satkhira prison. During the evening, all the prison lights were shut off and incarcerated militants were freed. The prison manager, Matiur Rahman Siddique, declared that « criminals attacked the prison, brought out the inmates and set fire on different parts of the district: the Satkhira Sadar police station, the police station managers’ home, the District Parliament of freedom fighters and many other places. Fires are now being set off by criminals and attacks pursued in different zones of the district. Yet, the real aim of masked fundamentalists is to free militants from prison and plunge the country into anarchy ».

In Sherpur, the prison was attacked in broad daylight. Jamaat and its supporters paraded in the city, with sticks and locally produced arms to neutralize the police, attacked the prison, burned it down and helped more than 500 criminals escape it. They set fire to the police station in Sherpur Sadar at 1:00 pm. During that moment, police forces were obliged to flee. They took up the opportunity to free militants.

There were also several attempts to free inmates in the Kashimpur prison in Gazipur, in which multiple notorious militants arePrim incarcerated. The army was charged with prison surveillance. However, the prison was attacked on several occasions and a number of those notorious inmates managed to escape. Dozens of militants are also said to have escaped from other prisons. They are the ones who have fomented unrest throughout the country and appear to be the masterminds behind the attacks on police stations. Numerous police officers were killed in those stations. Only trained militants could execute such heinous murders.

The army certainly supported the movement

Prior to the formation of the interim government, military leaders officially freed at least 2.200 prisoners. That list includes numerous radical militants and their supporters. In fact, a deeper conspiracy behind the prison attacks is traceable.

To avoid losing face in the eyes of the world, the military refrained from officially releasing prisoners who were well known internationally: the conspirators therefore paved the way for their release by attacking the prisons.

Generating an atmosphere of terror throughout the country was also pre-empted: the idea was to deceive the masses so that the ploy to free Islamist militants, before the creation of the interim government, could not be revealed. This is called « drowning the fish»…

What was the real goal of fundamentalist Islamists?

Numerous prisoners who escaped the prisoners came back voluntarily. Nevertheless, the radical militants mingled with the student crowd and were the main perpetrators of the most violent actions. Their aim was not limited to the departure of Sheikh Hasina, or the formation of a government led by Dr Yunus. Fundamentalist forces, led by the Jamaat, want to establish an Islamic regime in Bangladesh.

This is why all the sculptures are already destroyed. Attempts were also made to force Hindus out of the country***. There are numerous photos displaying the atrocities committed against the ministers, the police, administration and Awami League officials, and so on – murders, rapes of Hindu women, vandalized homes, temples, cars and burned houses, etc. all occurring in front of an enthusiastic crowd…

Nevertheless, these attacks against minorities are « repressed », in line with propaganda, to ensure that foreign aid is not interrupted. Minorities are however asked not to report attacks on them, so as to not attract the attention of Westerners.

The persecution of Hindus has started

There is irrefutable evidence of the atrocities committed by Islamic fundamentalists against the Hindu minority, to force them to flee… These atrocities are the means already used in other places (in France, in Israel, etc.) to stun people and initiate ethnic cleansing. We have some appalling photos, but we have selected two that have already been published elsewhere in the world (see attached). People were murdered and thrown into lakes: like Rahmuna Sara, editor-in-chief of Gazi TV (a secular news channel), whose body was found in Lake Hatirjheel, in the city of Dhaka.

It should be noted that Al Jazeera has condemned media coverage of the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh as ‘Islamophobic’ and that AFP seems more concerned about ‘disinformation’ on the scale of violence than about the violence itself.

Yet, overall, a fundamentalist anarchy reigns today in Bangladesh. Islamist militants, whose liberation was orchestrated from the prisons, accompanied by their partisans and associates, are blithely plundering the Declaration of Human Rights.

Doesn’t all this remind you of the arrival of the Taliban in Kabul in August 2021?

*Source https://perspective.usherbrooke.ca/bilan/servlet/BMAnalyse/2405  Sherbrooke University, Quebec. 

** Source Le Parisien.fr

*** source : https://www.thefp.com/p/anti-hindu-violence-in-bangladesh

****Source India Today:

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/mohammad-yunus-government-jashimuddin-rahmani-ansarullah-bangla-team-bangladesh-terror-group-chief-free-alarm-for-india-2588825-2024-08-27

Appendix: Report by the National Observatory of the Chilean Congress (18/12/2008)*

Islamist groups settled in Pakistan

There is a list of the main terrorist groups that have chosen Pakistan as an ideal location for planning, preparing their operations and training their military cadres. Eleven separate such groups are known to be interested only in committing violence in Pakistan, as their objectives are purely domestic. Thirty-two groups use Pakistan as a springboard for international operations aimed at targets in India, the Middle East or the West. In addition, there are four extremist groups that are difficult to classify. They are unpredictable and lack an intelligible ideology.

All the groups are Muslim, so it's easy to hide in Pakistan's huge population of over 236 million - 96% Muslim, 1.8% Hindu, 1.6% Christian.

The 47 groups listed below have been identified, as have their members, and are easily categorised. However, it is not possible to track them down: some have political links with the country's official sectors and others have links with different spheres of society. Most have front organisations located in every city in Pakistan.

Deployment and national action organizations

1.- Lashkar-e-Omar

2.- Sipahe-Sahaba Pakistan

3.- Tehreek-Jaferia Pakistan

4.- Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi

5.- Lashkar-e-Jhangvi

6.- Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan

7.- Jamaat-ul-Fuqra

8.- Nadeem Commando

9.- Popular Front for Armed Resistance

10.- Muslim United Army

11.- Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-alami

International action organizations

1.-Hizb-ul-Mujahideen

2.-Harkat-ul-Ansar (AKA, Harkat-ul Mujahideen)

3.-Lashkar-e-Toiba

4.-Jaish-e-Mohammad Mujahideen E-Tanzeem

5.-Harkat-ul Mujahideen (formerly, Harkat-ul-Ansar)

6.-Al Badr

7.-Jamait-ul-Mujahideen

8.-Lashkar-e-Jabbar

9.-Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami

10.-Muttahida Jehad Council

11.-Al Barq

12.-Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen

13.-Al Jehad

14.-Jammu & Kashir National Liberation Army

15.-People’s League

16.-Muslim Janbaz Force

17.-Kashmir Jehad Force

18.-Al Jehad Force (includes both Muslim Janbaz Force & Kashmir Jihad Force)

19.-Al Umar Mujahideen

20.-Mahaz-e-Azadi

21-Islami Jamaat-e-Tulba

22.-Jammu & Kashmir Students Liberation Front

23.-Ikhwan-ul-Mujahideen

24.-Islamic Students League

25.-Tehrik-e-Hurriat-e-Kashmir

26.-Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Fiqar Jafaria

27.-Al Mustafa Liberation Fighters

28.-Tehrik-e-Jehad-e-Islamin

29.-Muslim Mujahideen

30.-Al Mujahid Force

31.-Tehrik-e-Jehad

32.-Islami Inquilabi Mahaz

Extremists groups

1.- Al-Rashid Trust

2.- Al-Akhtar Trust

3.- Rabita Trust

4.-Ummah Tamir-e-Nau

*https://www.bcn.cl/observatorio/asiapacifico/noticias/india-pakistan-terrorism-problem