Title: Bangla exodus after assault on women
Author: FARID HOSSAIN 
Publication: Telegraph India
Date: Oct 21, 2001
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/archive/1011021/front_pa.htm#head4

Dhaka, Oct. 21:  Growing violence against the minority community has forced thousands of families to flee their homes in Bangladesh, according to human rights groups and newspaper reports today. 

In spite of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia’s assurance of security, there have been more reports of vandalising and looting of Hindu homes and smashing of idols of the goddess Durga. 

Newspapers published photos of young Hindu women who have been molested during attacks on their homes reportedly by supporters of Begum Zia’s new coalition.

Denying the charges, Khaleda Zia’s government has said reports of anti-Hindu violence have been “baseless, exaggerated and politically motivated”. 

Home minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury said in a speech yesterday that he has been scouring the country for incidents of anti-Hindu attacks.

But the rights groups said many persecuted families have fled to India. In many cases, men have stayed back, sending women out to either far off villages or towns or to India.

“The minority Hindus have suffered harrowing torture, including rape of teenage girls, by gangs of supporters of the new government,” Rokeya Kabir, head of Nari Pragati Sangha, a leading women’s rights group, said.

Volunteers of Kabir’s group visited dozens of predominantly Hindu villages in seven districts in the past two weeks. “Our volunteers have met families whose women were raped. Many of them would not speak out for fear of more attacks,” Kabir said. She told the tale of torture on Shefali Rani, a village council member at Agailjhara in Barisal district.

“Terrorists attacked and ransacked Shefali’s home on October 2. They beat her up and then gang-raped her,” Kabir said. Rani has since fled to Ramshil village in Gopalganj district, the home region of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Several thousand Hindu families have taken shelter in this region.

Anil Kumar Shil, a farmer, told another news conference that his teenage daughter was raped by a gang of Zia’s supporters in a recent attack. The family has travelled to Dhaka from the northern district of Sirajganj.

The Hindus have been targeted on the charge of supporting Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party in the October 1 parliamentary elections. The polls were swept by Zia’s four-party alliance that includes two Islamic fundamentalist parties, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Unity Council.

Hindus, Buddhists and Christians account for nearly 10 million of the country’s 75 million registered voters. Hindus, the largest minority group, have traditionally supported Hasina’s party for its secular policies and close relations with India.

“Bangladesh is a country of religious harmony free from communalism,” Begum Zia said in a televised speech on Friday, her first since winning the elections.

Promising security to Hindus, Zia warned the nation against “those who want to create division in this country of excellent religious harmony”.

Local newspapers have reported incidents of more violence. On Sunday, Matribhumi reported that Hindus have sent their young women out of their villages after attacks by supporters of Zahiruddin Swapan, a lawmaker from Zia’s party, charges he has denied.