Guwahati, March 27: The Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) has called on the United Nations and the global diplomatic community to intervene against Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor Dr. Mohammed Yunus for allegedly emboldening religious fundamentalists.
The group accuses Yunus of downplaying attacks on Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian minorities by dismissing them as personal disputes or criminal acts, despite mounting evidence of religiously motivated violence.
In a formal appeal to the UN Secretary-General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and heads of diplomatic missions in Dhaka, the RRAG condemned Yunus for attempting to distort the nature of the violence. The group asserts that by mischaracterizing these incidents, Yunus is shielding perpetrators and endangering the leaders of the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC), who are now more vulnerable to further attacks.
On March 25, Yunus issued “A rejoinder to the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddho-Christian Council’s latest report”, where he denied that recent murders and attacks on religious minorities were linked to communal violence. Instead, he attributed them to “prior enmity, theft, domestic disputes, and reckless behaviour.”
This directly contradicts a March 13 press release by the BHBCUC, which documented 92 violent incidents against religious and indigenous minorities in January and February 2025 alone. These included 11 murders, 3 rapes, 25 temple attacks, 6 assaults on indigenous communities, and 38 cases of looting and vandalism.
Critics argue that Yunus’ remarks are part of a broader pattern of denial. In September 2024, without conducting an investigation, he labelled attacks on Hindus as “politically motivated.” However, by January 2025, the Bangladesh Police claimed to have verified 1,234 incidents, allegedly fabricating findings to align with Yunus’ stance.
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) directly refuted Yunus’ claims in its “Fact-Finding Report: Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh,” released on February 12, 2025. The report concluded that: “During and after the protests, members of the Hindu community, Ahmadiyya Muslims, and indigenous groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts were subject to violent attacks by mobs, including burning of homes and attacks on places of worship. These attacks were driven by religious and ethnic discrimination, local disputes, and political revenge.”
While the report noted that opposition parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP, were involved in some of the violence, it found no evidence that their national leadership orchestrated the attacks.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) also highlighted these atrocities in its two-part documentary “The Plight of Hindus in Bangladesh”, aired on January 3 and 10, 2025. The report showcased graphic evidence of attacks, raising concerns that the international community has largely ignored or questioned the legitimacy of these reports.
Suhas Chakma, Director of the RRAG, condemned Yunus’ continued denial of religious violence, stating: “These statements are unbecoming of a head of government, let alone a Nobel Laureate. Dr. Yunus has, regrettably, become the Provocateur-in-Chief for attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh by condoning the violence as routine criminal acts. His stance not only emboldens fundamentalists but also makes BHBCUC leaders even more vulnerable to future assaults.”
The RRAG is now urging the international community to hold Yunus accountable and demand concrete measures to protect religious minorities in Bangladesh. It calls on the UN and diplomatic missions to push for an independent international investigation into violence against religious minorities, immediate protection for BHBCUC leaders and other vulnerable activists and accountability measures against government officials who downplay or cover up religious persecution.
As Bangladesh faces growing scrutiny, the question remains whether global leaders will act before more lives are lost.
