Forced to resign: Nearly 50 Bangladeshi Hindu teachers targeted since ouster of Sheikh Hasina-led govt

Nearly 50 teachers from minority communities were allegedly forced to resign in Bangladesh after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5, according to a minority organisation.

The Daily Star newspaper of the violence-hit nation quoted the Bangladesh Chhatra Oikya Parishad on Saturday as saying that minority teachers across the country faced physical assault, and at least 49 of them were forced to resign in the students’ violence that ensued for days following the ouster and fleeing of 76-year-old prime minister Hasina.

The Bangladesh Chhatra Oikya Parishad is the student wing of Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Oikya Parishad. They held a press conference on Saturday.

The organisation's coordinator, Sajib Sarkar, also said that 19 of them were reinstated later.

Sarkar added that religious and ethnic minorities have also faced attacks, looting, assault on women, vandalism of temples, arson attacks on homes and businesses, and killings during this period.

Bangladesh saw several incidents of violence against members of Hindu, Buddhist and Christian communities following the fall of the Hasina-led Awami League government last month.

Hasina resigned and fled to India on August 5 following unprecedented anti-government student-led protests over a controversial quota system in government jobs.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, 84, who is leading the interim government as its Chief Advisor, met the country’s Hindu community leaders at a reception he hosted for them last week.

Yunus vowed to promote interfaith harmony and said he wanted to build a Bangladesh where everyone can practice their faith without any fear and where no temple needs to be guarded.

According to the data compiled by the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad organisations, members of minority communities in the country faced at least 205 incidents of attacks in 52 districts since the fall of the Hasina-led government.

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the anti-quota protests first started in mid-July.