'We stand against 'racially based attacks, incitement to violence': UN on attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

United Nations: Amid violence against the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he stands against any racially based attacks or incitement to violence.

“What we've made clear is we want to make sure that the violence that has been occurring in Bangladesh in recent weeks is tamped down. Certainly, we stand against any racially based attacks or racially based incitement to violence,” Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, said here on Thursday.

He was responding to a question on the Secretary-General’s reaction to attacks on Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh.

Several Hindu temples, households and businesses have been vandalised, and at least two Hindu leaders affiliated with former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party have been killed in the violence since Monday, when Hasina resigned and fled to India.

Since Hasina fled the country, media reports from Bangladesh have flagged more and more cases of violence against minorities, including the massive vandalism and destruction at popular folk band Joler Gaan’s frontman Rahul Ananda's residence on Monday, prompting the singer and his family to go into hiding.

However, it is not just Hindus that are targeted. At least 232 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government on Monday, taking the death toll to 560 since the anti-quota protests first started in mid-July.

On Nobel lureate Muhammad Yunus being sworn in as head of the interim government, Haq noted the UN’s hopes “for an inclusive process of forming a government" and said, "We continue to hold that hope. And, of course, any sign of lessening of violence and greater restraint amongst the public is a good thing.” When asked if Secretary-General Guterres had congratulated Yunus or spoken over the phone, Haq said Guterres had not spoken to him, but UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis attended the swearing-in ceremony.

“Certainly, she and the country team have been active in encouraging the process of making sure that the transition on the ground is peaceful,” Haq said.

On calls on the UN to be part of an investigation into the killings in Bangladesh over the last few weeks, Haq said the UN will see what kind of formal request it gets from any new government that is formed.

"We, of course, stand ready to support the Government and people of Bangladesh in any way that they deem is necessary,” he said.