Extremists in Bangladesh are threatening to slaughter 100 cows on the occasion of the Bengali New Year (Pohela Boishakh), which is celebrated on the 14th of April each year.
With the annual festival less than 2 months away, full-fledged plans are underway to hurt the sentiments of the Hindu community.Pohela Boishakh marks the arrival of spring and the abundance of the harvest season.
As part of the celebration, a grand event is organised each year under the Ramna Batamul Banyan tree, located inside the Ramna Park in Dhaka.
The organiser of the event is the Chhayanaut Sangeet Vidyatan, which was established in Bangladesh in 1961 to promote Bengali culture and music.
On 18th February, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki was quizzed about the threats issued to slaughter 100 cows on the occasion of Pohela Boishakh at the Ramna Park. He is the adviser to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs in the interim government of Bangladesh.
When a reporter pointed out that the threats originated primarily on social media, Farooki attempted to brush the grave criminal intimation under the carpet.
He claimed, “Many people say many things on social media…We cannot respond to everything said there as government authorities.” The reporter pointed out that threats, which originate on social media, manifest in real-life attacks.
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki continued, “Pohela Boishakh is a big festival. It will be observed in the same manner it has been celebrated all these years. I can say that.”
The development comes amid targeted attacks at events by violent Muslim mobs, operating under the banner of ‘Tawhidi Janata.’
Muhammad Yunus panders to Islamists, Hindus remain concerned
The interim government in Bangladesh, led by Muhammad Yunus, is pandering to Islamists. While Yunus has not directly recommended these Muslim mobs to run rampage, he has strategically remained tight-lipped on their activities.
His regime has released Islamic hardliners and convicted terrorists and tried to downplay attacks on Hindu minorities as ‘fake‘, ‘exaggerated‘ or ‘politically motivated‘.
The threat to slaughter 100 cows at the Ramna Park in Dhaka, particularly in the context of Pohela Baishakh, should be taken seriously.
For context, the Islamic terror outfit ‘Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami’ had executed two deadly bomb blasts at Ramna Park on 14th April 2001. It led to the killing of 9 innocent people and injured at least 50 others.
8 terrorists, identified as Mufti Abdul Hannan, Moulana Akbar Hossain, Moulana Mohammad Tajuddin, Hafez Jahangir Alam Badar, Moulana Abu Bakar, Mufti Shafiqur Rahman, Mufti Abdul Hye, and Arif Hasan, were sentenced to death in 2014.
Other Islamic terrorists including Moulana Abu Taher, Moulana Sabbir alias Abdul Hannan, Moulana Yahiya, Moulana Shawkat Osman, Moulana Abdur Rouf and Shahadat Ullah were given life sentences.
Terrorists Tajuddin, Hafez Jahangir, Moulana Abu Bakar, Mufti Shafiqur, and Mufti Hye are on the run from law enforcement authorities, even after 24 years.
With no definitive assurance from the Muhammad Yunus-led-regime against threats on Pohela Baishakh, the Hindu community is threatened ahead of the annual festival.
Attack on Hindus in Bangladesh since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina
Gplus has been vetting and reporting cases of atrocities on Hindus since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina on 5th August 2024.
There have been at least 205 attacks on Hindu temples, shops and businesses within 3 days of the fall of Dhaka.
We previously exposed how Muslim students have forced as many as 60 Hindu teachers, professors and government officials to resign from their positions.
Human rights activist and exiled Bangladeshi blogger, Asad Noor, has recently revealed that the minority community is now being coerced into joining ‘Jamaat-e-Islami’.
On 6th September, a procession of Hindu devotees carrying the idol of Lord Ganesha came under attack in the Kadam Mubarak area in Chittagong city of Bangladesh.
Ahead of the Durga Puja celebrations, a radical Muslim man named Yasin Mia vandalised the idols of Goddess Durga and other Hindu deities in Gouripur town in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh on 25th September.
In the latest series of attacks, idols of Goddess Durga and other Hindu deities were vandalised at the Rishipara Barwari Puja Mandap and the Manikadi Palpara Barwari Pujamandap on 28th September and 1st October respectively.
The attacks were carried out in Sujanagar upazila in Pabna district in Rajshahi Division of Bangladesh. While a total of 4 idols were defaced at the Rishipara Barwari Puja Mandap, another 5 Hindu idols were destroyed at the Manikadi Palpara Barwari Pujamandap.
On 3rd October, 7 idols of Hindu deities were destroyed at the Gopinath Jiur Akhara Durga Puja mandap in Kishoreganj, Dhaka Division, Bangladesh.
On 5th November, the Hindu community came under attack from police and law enforcement authorities in Hazari Goli in Chittagong city of Bangladesh.
On 29th November, a violent Muslim mob attacked Hindu minorities and vandalised 3 temples in Patharghata in Chittagong district of Bangladesh.
The Hindu religious sites that the Muslims targeted included the Shantaneshwari Matri Temple, the Shoni Temple, and Shantaneshwari Kalibari Temple. The attack took place immediately after the conclusion of Jumma Namaz.
On 30th November, a prominent Hindu journalist named Munni Saha was arrested by the police from Karwan Bazar in Dhaka city of Bangladesh.
A group of extremists attacked the Mahashmashan Kali Mata Mandir, vandalised 7 idols of deities and stole gold ornaments on 13th December 2024.
On 19th December, a Muslim man identified as Alal Uddin vandalised an idol at the Polashkanda Kali Temple and then attempted to create a fake alibi. The incident occurred in Haluaghat upazila in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh.
Another 37-year-old Muslim man identified as Azharul vandalised several idols of deities in Haluaghat Upazila in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh.
The recent arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das Prabhu and his aides, attempts at banning Hindu organisation ISKCON and stiffling Hindu protests with cases of ‘sedition’ highlight systematic persecution under the interim government of Muhammad Yunus.
There have been multiple instances of attacks on Hindus under the pretext of ‘blasphemy.’ The recent cases of Hridoy Pal, Utsab Mandal, Partha Biswas Pintu, Akash Das, Pranta Talukder and Utsab Kumar Gian are shining examples of targeted persecution.
