Violence after ouster of Bangladesh leader stirs fear in country's Hindu minority

(13 Aug 2024)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4511796

RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dhaka, Bangladesh – 11 August 2024
1. Retired government auditor and supporter of Awami League, Arobinda Mohalder, and his wife Nilima Mondal walking
2. Mondal crying and walking with her daughter and Mohalder towards house where they are now staying
3. Wide of another burnt home of an Awami League official who is a Hindu
4. Relatives and neighbour of the official trying to salvage whatever they can
5. SOUNDBITE (Bangla) Arobinda Mohalder, 65, retired government auditor whose home was burned: ++STARTS ON SHOT 2++
“I’m very scared. For a person who has collected so much stuff, made his house, if somebody burns it, then that person does not wish to go back to that home. But I still want to return to my house and live there. I have lived at that place for so long. But the fear of the goons and the looting that they did, I am scared because of that.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dhaka, Bangladesh – 10 August 2024
6. Wide of Hindus protesting UPSOUND (Bangla) “Hindu’s wake up”
7. Hindus protesting holding placard reading (English) “Stop violence against Hindu’s in Bangladesh”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dhaka, Bangladesh – 12 August 2024
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Zillur Rahman, Executive Director, Center for Governance Studies: ++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND PARTLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 9-12++
"Hindus are targeted, some of them, not what we're hearing from various corners, basically, it's politically motivated because Awami League is targeted. So there are a few Hindu(s), they are Awami League leaders, they hold some positions in the Awami League. That's the major cause for (of) these attacks. It's not, it's not religiously motivated."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dhaka, Bangladesh – 11 August 2024
9. Damaged portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, father of Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, people looking at burnt home

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dhaka, Bangladesh – 10 August 2024
10. Wide of soldiers on street
11. Pan from burnt car to soldiers on street

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dhaka, Bangladesh – 10 August 2024
12. Wide of protest, protesters holding poster reading (English) “Stop violence against Hindu’s and Temples in Bangladesh”
13. Wide of protesters shouting slogans
STORYLINE:
When a mass uprising forced Bangladesh’s longtime prime minister to step down and flee the country last week, a 65-year-old retired auditor who had worked for her political party feared for his life.

Arobinda Mohalder, who is part of Bangladesh’s Hindu minority, had just learned that a Hindu official working for the Awami League party in the country's Khulna district escaped after an angry mob set his home on fire.

Mohalder and his wife quickly packed clothes and passports as they fled their home to stay with a relative nearby.

Later that evening, they found out their home had been torched.

The attackers looted everything, including their television, refrigerator and two air conditioners.

Ever since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India, her supporters and associates have faced retaliatory attacks by mobs who have been met by little, if any, resistance from authorities.

Members of the country's Hindu minority feel the most vulnerable because they have traditionally backed the Awami League — seen as a secular party in the Muslim-majority nation — and because of a history of violence against them during previous upheavals.


Mohalder believes he was targeted because of his ties to the Awami League. He doesn’t know when it will be safe for him to return home.







Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...