Muhammad Yunus.
Muhammad Yunus.
US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard on Monday said the situation in Bangladesh is a “major area of concern” for the US.
The comments — made during an interview with NDTV World — assume significance in the backdrop of rising incidents of persecution of religious minorities and growing demands for establishment of an Islamic caliphate in India’s eastern neighbourhood.
“The long-time unfortunate persecution, killing, and abuse of religious minorities — Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Catholics, and others — have been a major area of concern for the US government, President Donald Trump and his administration,” she said, echoing concerns of New Delhi during the interview.
India has raised the issue of minority persecution several times since the change of guard in Bangladesh last August when a popular wave of protest swept the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government.
An interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has been on the saddle for the last seven months or so, the phase marked with rampant violation of minority rights.
Though India reached out to the new regime to protect the minorities and restore law-and-order, the interim government rejected the concerns, blaming a “misinformation campaign” by the Indian media for the confusion.
Till late on Monday evening, Dhaka did not officially react to Gabbard’s comments, which can be construed as an indictment of the Yunus regime that has come under severe criticism for its failure to address economic woes of ordinary people and restore law-and-order.
Making matters worse, hundreds of dreaded criminals — including convicted Islamist terrorists — were released from prisons after Yunus took over.
The fact that the US administration will pursue its concerns with Bangladesh became clear during the NDTV interview. “The talks are just beginning between President Trump’s new cabinet coming in and the Government of Bangladesh but this continues to remain a central focus area of concern,” Gabbard said.
Another important point, pertaining to India’s security concerns, came up during the interview as she spoke about how extremist elements and terror groups have been pursuing the ideology of an “Islamic Caliphate” across the globe. “The threat of Islamist terrorists and the global effort of different terror groups are routed in the same ideology and objective — which is to rule or govern with an Islamist Caliphate,” she said.
“This obviously affects people of any other religion, other than the one that they find acceptable, and they chose to carry this out with terror and very violent ways and means,” added Gabbard.
In the backdrop of recent developments in Bangladesh, where the call for an “Islamic Caliphate” are getting louder, the comment is “more than significant”, said a senior official in the Yunus government on concitions of anonymity.
The source referred to last week’s massive rally, organised by banned outfit Hizb-ut Tahrir (HuT), in which thousands of people — carrying flags of the Islamic State — marched through the main thoroughfares of capital Dhaka before the police cracked down on them with tear gas and stun grenades.
“The entire episode was stage managed... Though HuT is a banned outfit, the police did not act while its leaders carried out a massive social media campaign, dubbed as March for Khilafat, for days before the rally,” said the source.
According to the source, the law enforcing agencies did nothing to prevent thousnads of HuT supporters when they were approaching Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, the rally venue, on March 7. “The police did act, but it was too late... Some arrests were made, but that was also an eye-wash as several bystanders were also picked up. The fact is, the Yunus government enjoys the support of radical Islamists and that’s why it goes all the way to proect them,” said the source from Dhaka,
The unfettered rise of radical Islam, a professor of the Dhaka University said, has become the biggest reality of Bangladesh under Yunus as she referred to rising intolerance towards minority communities and growing number of attacks on women under different pretexts.
“If a girl is seen smoking, it has become a crime. Someone is atatcked for not wearing burqa or hijab... I know cases wherein girls faced attacks as they were accompanied by male friends. The rise in moral policing is a proof of where we are heading,” she said, before adding that she has stopped western outfits in recent months.
In her interview to NDTV World, Gabbard said Trump was determined to identify and defeat such radical ideologies.
“President Trump remains committed to identifying the ideology that drives Islamist terrorism, and working to defeat this ideology and their ability to exact that terror on people,” she said.
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