Rep. Pallone (D-NJ)

Leading U.S. Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), founder of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, expressed his deep concern over the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh. Speaking in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 19, he said, “The coalition government of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which came to power on Oct. 1, 2001, has initiated a violent campaign and since the BNP’s parliamentary victory nearly three years ago, a campaign of terrorism, murder and religious cleansing has been unleashed on Hindus living in Bangladesh. I had written a letter to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in 2002 about this violent persecution, but I have received no response to date and it is a fact that unabashed violence has continued freely.

“Although the latest wave of violence has been ensuing since the BNP took power in 2001, Hindus have been a disappearing minority in Bangladesh at the hands of Bangladeshi forces who have employed human rights abuses, atrocities and ethno-religious cleansing tools,” he said. Pallone added that in 1941, Hindus comprised 28 percent of the Bangladeshi population but by 1991, the Hindu population dwindled to a meager 8 percent. A large part of this decrease in the Hindu population in Bangladesh can be attributed to the 1971 genocide by the then Muslim East Pakistan Party whereby 2.5 million Hindus were murdered and 10 million Hindus fled to India as refugees. “Reminiscent of the Jewish holocaust, Hindu homes were marked by a yellow ‘H,’ which in fact guided the pillagers to their homes. Over the following 30 years, thousands of Hindu temples were destroyed, Hindus were systematically disenfranchised from holding political power, and prejudicial legislation ensured an unstable existence for Hindus,” Pallone said.

Pallone suggested a seven-point program to uphold pluralistic democracy in Bangladesh for the protection of Hindus and all minorities. These were: