Prof Anu Muhammad says govts dodge accountability for communal violence

Prof Anu Muhammad has sharply criticised successive governments for repeatedly blaming "foreign conspiracies" instead of taking accountability for communal violence in Bangladesh.

"When Ramu happened, the then home minister said it was a Jamaat-BNP plot to sabotage war crimes trials. Today, when Khagrachhari is burning, the current home adviser says it was 'made in India'. The model of denial is the same. They never investigate, because often their own local leaders are involved," he said.

Speaking at a discussion titled "Timeline of Communal Violence: 13 Years Since the Ramu Buddhist Temple Attacks and Communal Violence in the Post-Uprising Bangladesh", organised by Ganatantra Odhikar Committee at Dhaka Reporters Unity today, he argued that communal violence is not spontaneous but systematically orchestrated for political, economic and institutional gain.

He pointed to the 2012 Ramu attacks, when Buddhist monasteries were torched over a fabricated Facebook post, as well as the 2001 post-election violence targeting minorities.

"After the 2001 elections, criminal cases were filed in abundance over the attacks, arson and rape targeting minorities. Only a fraction received justice. This cycle has continued since the 1980s and 90s -- instead of learning from history, we have gone backwards," he said.

He added that communalism is not about majority identity but minority interests disguised as majority's will.

According to him, mobs are not driven by faith-based outrage but mobilised by powerful organisers who exploit religious sentiment for elite interests. "Those who attack in the name of Bengali or Muslim interests do not serve the real majority -- the working poor, farmers, labourers -- they serve a small group of elites," he said.

He also demanded transparency in land ownership in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. "If the government truly wants peace in the hills, let them publish a list of the names the land has been leased to. Then you'll see whose interests are being protected by keeping the region unstable," he said.

Prof Anu Muhammad said that restoring communal harmony requires political will, not administrative orders. "Freedom fighters did not fight for a country where people live in fear because of their identity. A functional society is one where no one is humiliated for their religion, gender or ethnicity. That is the Bangladesh we must fight for," he said.