Showing posts with label Bangladesh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bangladesh. Show all posts

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Remembering Vimal Patak


This Bangladeshi Hindu was caught in the street. He was brought to the mosque and was beaten to death. His pleads for mercy had no effect on the stone-hard hearts of the Muslim Satan worshippers. They chanted, "kill the kafir, kill the kafir" and shouted Allah u Akbar while Vimal Patak met his agonizing death.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Bangladesh Destroys Hinduism, Buddhism


Letters from Tokyo

Islamization Blamed on UK for Partition of British India
By Lee Jay Walker
Tokyo Correspondent
Seoul Times


Image of Vishnu — Vishnu is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God. He is exalted as the highest God in Hindu sacred texts like the Taittiriya Samhita and the Bhagavad Gita.



The nation of Bangladesh is witnessing Islamization, just like Afghanistan in the distant past and currently now in Pakistan. It is clear that the Indian sub-continent flourished under both Hinduism and then Buddhism which came afterwards. Both faiths nurtured the very fabric of society but invading Islamic armies and the partition of India was one disaster after another. Therefore, just like Afghanistan, it would appear that one day you will have either complete Islamization or a very small minority which is on the margins of society.

Many stories are never told because of several factors. This applies to not being deemed important because of political factors and of course because of the abject failure of the mass media. Nearly everyone knows about the Palestinian problem or Tibet, but of course we have a deadly silence about the ongoing Islamization in Bangladesh and Pakistan.

However, the current crisis in Bangladesh should be headline news because minorities need to be supported and senior politicians in India must do more to raise this ongoing crisis. Also, the United Kingdom is responsible because the partition of India took place after the British colonial period and the Commonwealth should think about suspending both Bangladesh and Pakistan, on the grounds of failing to protect their respective minorities.

Before the partition of India took place you had sizeable minorities in what was to become Pakistan and Bangladesh. For example in modern day Pakistan the Sikh community is very small but prior to partition this community thrived in parts of what was to become Pakistan. Yet during partition many Sikhs were butchered and killed by Muslims, therefore, they had to flee from the outset.

Of course all religious groups suffered during partition and many innocents on all sides were murdered. Therefore, innocent Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and other minorities, fled in various directions because the situation was chaotic. However, if we look at events many decades later we see one clear reality and this reality is Islamization.

After all, the Hindu and Sikh communities of modern day Pakistan are very small and they face many hardships and it is clear that Islamization is in full swing. Also, in Bangladesh the Buddhist and Hindu minorities are dwindling rapidly and both communities have suffered greatly and the Christian community also faces many problems because of radical Sunni Islam. Yet in modern day India the Muslim population is still strong and vibrant.

Of course you have other minorities who also suffer enormous persecution, for example Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Also, in India some radical Hindus have attacked Christian minorities. Despite this, the nation of India is democratic and people from all faith groups can reach positions of power.

Also, the government of India believes in pluralism and Ahmadiyya Muslims have more rights in India than they do in Pakistan because radical Sunni Islamic zealots persecute the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in this nation. The same also applies to Shia Muslims in Pakistan, because often Shia Muslims are killed by Sunni Islamic extremists but in India they have much more freedom.

Therefore, Muslim minorities have greater freedom in India and other religious minorities like Jains and Zoroastrians can pray and worship freely in modern day India. It also must be remembered that Zoroastrians fled to India in order to escape religious genocide because Islamic fanatics destroyed Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia (modern day Iran) and other places in Asia where this faith had thrived before the rise of Islam.

If we look at the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan then it is clear that millions of Hindus have fled both nations because of systematic persecution. The consequences of partition are clear and the same applies to the nature of both dominant faiths. After all, the Islamic population remains vibrant in India because of the nature of Hinduism; however, the Hindu population is in freefall in both Bangladesh and Pakistan because of the nature of Islam and its theory of superiority, dhimmitude, and inequality in law which is sanctioned by Islamic Sharia law.

Clearly the growth of Hindu militancy is the legacy of countless Islamic invasions and many massacres throughout history; and the legacy of British imperialism which enabled partition to take place. Also, the ongoing de-Hinduization of Bangladesh and Pakistan is ongoing, therefore, Hindu militants are rightly worried that Bangladesh and Pakistan is following the Afghanistan scenario, whereby all non-Muslims turn into dust and even ancient monuments face destruction at the hands of radical Sunni Islamists.

Therefore, several years ago the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) held a major exhibition in America in order to highlight the continuing persecution of all minorities in Bangladesh.

Amalendu Chatterjee, HRCBM director, pointed out that the Hindu population was over 30 per cent in the 1940s in what was to become Bangladesh, however, today it is a mere 11 per cent. Given this, Amalendu Chatterjee comments that "It is time that the world should know what is happening with the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh." He also stated that the reasons for the decline of the Hindu population is ".....because of the atrocities perpetrated on the Hindus by the ruling class all these years."

Utsav Chakrabarti, a member of the Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism (FACT) stated that "All the representatives and their staffers reiterated the need to protect the rights of minorities and to deal with Islamic groups in a resolute manner."

American political leaders gave their support and Ed Royce, a Republican member of the House of Representatives, wrote "The international community must take an action against these genocidal acts now before this culture is extinguished and the minorities forcibly killed, converted or exiled in the face of an underground jihad."

Ed Royce also focused on the extreme " ... persecution faced by Hindus, Buddhists and Christians due to the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh." This threat, just like the systematic persecution and killings of Christians in Somalia is ongoing and it is based on the Koran, the Hadiths and the teachings of Mohammed.

Frank Pallone Jr. who is a Democrat member in the House of Representatives stated that "I was proud to be the Congressional sponsor of this important exhibition on human rights in Bangladesh. I believe it helped bring much-needed attention to the plight of minorities in Bangladesh who have suffered from increasing attacks over the past few years."

Rape was also highlighted because some Islamists use rape in order to convert Hindus to Islam forcibly. It is also important to add that Islamists use this same method in Egypt because countless numbers of Coptic Christian women have been raped by Muslims and then forcibly converted to Islam.

Therefore, Rosalind Costa who is a social worker highlighted the case of two girls who were raped and then forcibly converted to Islam after being gang-raped by Muslim jihadists. This applies to Rita Rani Das and Purnima Shil who were both gang-raped by Islamists.

The current reality is simple, in Pakistan the Hindu population is in complete freefall because only around 1% of the population is Hindu and now Islamization is taking place in Bangladesh. At the same time the Muslim population in India remains strong and vibrant. Therefore, it is clear that state sanctioned policies, Islamic radicalism and persecution is to blame and once more we are witnessing the reality of Islam in action.

Today all minorities face persecution and alienation in Bangladesh and Pakistan because of the role of radical Islam and natural Islamization based on discrimination and persecution. After all, inequality and discrimination is part and parcel of Islamic Sharia law and the Hadiths.

Therefore, will the international community stand up and debate this issue seriously or will the international community remain shackled by fear and indifference?

What is clear is that Buddhism and Hinduism is in mortal danger in Bangladesh and Christian minorities and Ahmadiyya Muslims also suffer.

When the partition of India happened it was clear that the Hindu minority was sizeable in both Bangladesh and Pakistan. However, within a short period of time we are seeing the demise of Hinduism in Pakistan and now the same is happening to both Buddhists and Hindus in Bangladesh.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Mother caned in Bangladesh for talking to Hindu man


By Shafiq Alam – Jun 6, 2009


DHAKA (AFP) — A Muslim mother has been caned for talking to a Hindu man in Bangladesh, police said Saturday, prompting fresh concerns about a rise in cases of harsh treatment of women under strict Islamic law.

The punishment was carried out in a remote village in Muslim-majority Bangladesh on the orders of village elders, local police chief Enamul Monowar told AFP by telephone.

The village elders found Kamala Begum, 38, a mother of four, guilty under Islamic sharia law of chatting with an unidentified Hindu man, Monowar said. Hindus make up around 10 percent of Bangladesh's population.

"The villagers got bundles of 25 sticks and hit her four times on the back. They claimed it was a symbolic punishment. But she's humiliated and has been in great mental pain," Monowar said.

It was the third such reported case in two weeks in the country and stirred concern among women's groups in Muslim-majority but officially secular Bangladesh, about what they say is a rise in the brutal treatment of women under locally applied Islamic laws.

"In the last few months, we have seen villagers invoking sharia to mete out barbaric punishments to women," said Salma Ali, the head of rights group Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers Association.

Police have arrested one man and are looking for others who meted out the punishment to the woman in Shason in northeastern Bangladesh, Monowar said.

Earlier this month a man and a woman were caned for adultery after being convicted by a village court, police said.

Village courts are common in Bangladesh, particularly in more conservative rural areas, but are not recognised as legitimate courts of law.

Also this month, a 22-year-old unwed woman was caned 39 times and left fighting for her life after saying a neighbour was the father of her six-year-old son.

The case caused a national outcry with Premier Sheikh Hasina ordering the woman shifted from her village home to the capital for treatment. The woman is now in a stable condition.

So far, Bangladesh has been little affected by the spread of hardline Islamic sentiment that has badly shaken its South Asian neighbour Pakistan.

But women's rights groups say there has been a spike in the number of "fatwas" -- judgments in line with sharia law -- in rural areas.

"In the last few months, we've seen villagers invoking sharia to mete out barbaric punishments to women," said lawyer Ali.

"It's disturbing sign and a real concern. It shows some parts of the country are becoming more conservative," she said.

Bangladesh has been ruled by female leaders for 16 of the last 19 years and prides itself for empowering women.

But although women hold high government and private sector posts, a move last year to give equal property rights to women was scuttled by Islamist protests.

The Awami League government has vowed to eradicate militancy from the country, hit by series of blasts by outlawed Islamic groups in 2005, and has warned of "zero tolerance" for harsh sharia punishments.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Bangladesh's last Armenian

Bangladesh's last Armenian prays for unlikely future
Arab Times

DHAKA, Feb 1, 2009 (AFP) - Michael Joseph Martin is guarded about his exact age and reluctant to accept he will be the last in a long line of Armenians to make a major contribution to the history of Bangladesh.

Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital, was once home to thousands of migrants from the former Soviet republic who grew to dominate the city's trade and business life.

But Martin, aged in his 70s, is now the only one left.

'When I die, maybe one of my three daughters will fly in from Canada to keep our presence here alive,' Martin said hopefully, speaking broken Bengali with a thick accent. 'Or perhaps other Armenians will come from somewhere else.'

Martin came to Dhaka in 1942 during World War II, following in the footsteps of his father who had settled in the region decades earlier.

They joined an Armenian community in Bangladesh dating back to the 16th century, but now Martin worries about who will look after the large Armenian church in the city's old quarter.

'This is a blessed place and God won't leave it unprotected and uncared for,' he said of the Church of Holy Resurrection, which was built in 1781 in the Armanitola, or Armenian district.

Martin -- whose full name is Mikel Housep Martirossian -- looks after the church and its graveyard where 400 of his countrymen are buried, including his wife who died three years ago.

When their children, all Bangladeshi passport-holders, left the country along, Martin became the sole remaining Armenian here. He now lives alone in an enormous mansion in the church grounds.

'When I walk, sometimes I feel spirits moving around. These are the spirits of my ancestors. They were noble men and women, now resting in peace,' said Martin, who is stooped and frail but retains a detailed knowledge of the Armenian history in Dhaka.

Marble tombstones display family names such as Sarkies, Manook and Aratoon from a time when Armenians were Dhaka's wealthiest merchants with palatial homes who traded jute, spices, indigo and leather.

Among the dead are M. David Alexander, the biggest jute trader of the late 19th century, and Nicholas Peter Poghose who set up Bangladesh's first private school in the 1830s and died in 1876.

Martin, himself a former trader, said the Armenians, persecuted by Turks and Persians, were embraced in what is now Bangladesh first by the Mughals in the 16th and 17th centuries and then by the British colonial empire.

Fluent in Persian -- the court language of the Mughals and the first half of the British empire in India -- Armenians were commonly lawyers, merchants and officials holding senior public positions.

They were also devout Christians who built some of the most beautiful churches in the Indian subcontinent.

'Their numbers fluctuated with the prospects in trading in Dhaka,' said Muntasir Mamun, a historian at Dhaka University.

'Sometimes there were several thousand Armenians trading in the Bengal region. They were always an important community in Dhaka and dominated the country's trading. They were the who's who in town. They celebrated all their religious festivals with pomp and style.'

The decline came gradually after the British left India and the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947 with Dhaka becoming the capital of East Pakistan and then of Bangladesh after it gained independence in 1971.

These days, the Armenian Church holds only occasional services on important dates in the Orthodox Christian calendar, with a Catholic priest from a nearby seminary coming in to lead prayers at Christmas.

Martin said the once-busy social scene came to a halt after the last Orthodox priest left in the late 1960s, but he is determined to ensure the church's legacy endures.

'Every Sunday was a day of festival for us. Almost every Armenian would attend the service, no matter how big he was in social position. The church was the centre of all activities,' he said.

'I've seen bad days before, but we always bounced back. I am sure Armenians will come back here for trade and business. I will then rest in peace beside my wife.'