After former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, at least 49 teachers belonging to the minority communities were targeted and forced to resign. The attacks against minorities in the country rose after Hasina resigned from the post on August 5.
The Bangladesh Chhatra Oikya Parishad, the student wing of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad, at a press conference, said minority teachers faced physical assault.
Sajib Sarkar, the organisation’s coordinator, said the teachers were harassed and forced to resign. Though 49 teachers resigned, later 19 of them were reinstated, Sarkar was quoted by the Daily Star newspaper.
After the Hasina-led government’s fall last month, several incidents of violence against Hindu, Buddhist and Christian communities were reported. At least 205 incidents of attacks in 52 districts were reported, according to the data compiled by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad organisations.
Hasina resigned following unprecedented anti-government student-led protests over a controversial quota system in government jobs. Over 500 people were killed in the country since the protests erupted in July.
Around 100 cases were charged against Hasina including those for murder and crimes against humanity.
An interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has met the minority community leaders and vowed to promote interfaith harmony. The United Nations Human Rights Office on Friday said it will dispatch a fact-finding mission to Bangladesh to probe the human rights violations.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh police on Sunday ordered citizens to return all arms and ammunition looted from police stations during the recent violence by Tuesday (September 3).
Law enforcement authorities by Saturday had recovered a total of 3,872 weapons of various types, looted from police stations and offices during the recent unrest, the report said.
In addition, as many as 286,216 rounds of bullets, 22,201 teargas shells, and 2,139 stun grenades were also recovered, it said.
