Political, not communal: Bangladesh cops on violence against minorities

A vast majority of incidents against the minority communities since August 4 last year were 'political in nature' and not 'communal,' Bangladesh government said on Saturday quoting a police report. Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’ press wing said here that the police investigation came after the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council recently claimed that there were 2,010 incidents of communal violence since a day before deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country on August 5 following a massive student-led protest that toppled her 16-year regime. Claiming that it was, however, found that “in the majority of the cases, the attacks were not communally motivated—rather, those were political in nature,” the statement said: “Police investigations found that 1,234 incidents were 'political in nature,' 20 incidents were communal and at least 161 claims were found to be false or untrue.” “According to the claims of the Council, 1,452 incidents—or 82.8 per cent of the total claims—took place on August 5, 2024, when Hasina was ousted from power. “In all, since August 4, a total of 115 cases have been registered over complaints of communal attacks and at least 100 people have been arrested over the cases,” the statement said. In a separate statement, the press wing on Friday said police in northwestern Natore district arrested the “main accused” of the murder of a 60-year-old Hindu person at a crematorium on December 21, 2024.