The Arab Spring of 2012 saw crowds across the Arab world taking to the streets & seeking to oust unpopular Islamic regimes. Tragically, the Arab Spring soon turned into an ISIS Winter as Jihadists across the region took advantage of the chaos and began seizing territory & carrying out violent attacks against Christians, Yazidis, & other religious minorities. Untold thousands were slaughtered & thousands more driven from their homes. Though ISIS lost control of the territory that they seized in Iraq & Syria, militants continue to attack Muslims, Christians, & other religious minorities across the Islamic world, with no end in site.
With much of the world’s focus now on the ongoing war between Israel & Hamas in the Gaza Strip, many are not paying attention the the new crisis now unfolding in Bangladesh. Mass protests against the Bangladeshi Government have led to a military coup, and Jihadists are swiftly taking advantage of the chaos. Across the nation, mobs of Muslims spurned by the urging of Jihadists groups such as the Jamaat-e-Islami are carrying out attacks on non-Muslim religious minorities throughout the nation. Hindus, Christians, & Buddhists alike are being beaten in the streets while their homes, businesses, & houses of worship are being looted & destroyed. The UN Human Rights Commission confirms that so far at least 650 people have died from the ongoing violence. As it presently stands at least six churches have been attacked & seriously damage while many Bangladeshi Christians are reporting that their homes are being marked with crosses by Islamist groups, much in the same way that ISIS marked Christian homes when they invaded Iraq in 2014. Reports are also coming in that the Jamaat-e-Islami is also making lists of Hindu homes & businesses & giving this information to the mobs & urging them to carry out the attacks. Reports are also revealing that Jihadists are using the chaos to abduct young Hindu girls for forced marriage, knowing that the government authorities are too overwhelmed to do anything about it.
Tragically, this isn’t the first time that Jihadists groups have wrought death & destruction upon Bangladesh. The nation of Bangladesh has had a tragic history with Jihadist groups like the Jamaat-e-Islami. Founded in 1941 by Mullah Maududi, the Jamaat-e-Islami is a Muslim Brotherhood style organization. Much like the Muslim Brotherhood, the long-term goal of the group is to resurrect the “Caliphate” and place the entire world under a Sharia enforced Islamic Empire. Maududi clearly articulated the groups goal when he stated that “Islam wishes to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and program of Islam regardless of the country or nation which rules it…Islam requires the earth-not just a portion, but the whole planet…because the entire mankind should benefit from the ideology and welfare program [of Islam]…Towards this end, Islam wishes to press into service all forces that can bring about a revolution and a composite term for the use of all these forces is “Jihad.” …the objective of the Islamic “Jihad” is to eliminate the rule of an un-Islamic system and establish in its stead an Islamic system of state rule.”
The ideology embraced by Maududi is shared with that of Sayyid Qutb, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. In truth, the two groups directly mirror each other, both sharing the same goals and aspirations, and both becoming the brain child of more radical Islamic terrorist groups. Whereas counter-terrorism experts state that radical groups like Hamas, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS are direct off-shoots of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban is likewise a direct offshoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami. As the decades progressed, the Jamaat-e-Islami gained increasing power & control within the the region, particularly in Pakistan. By the time Bangladesh declared their independence from Pakistan in 1971, the Jamaat-e-Islami gained enough influence that they would have a direct affect on the Bangladeshi people.
During the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971 the religious leaders of the Jamaat-el-Islami declared a “Jihad” against the entire region. They urged the Pakistani military and militia forces to give no quarter and declared that all Bengali women are now “War Booty.” As a result an estimated 2 million Bengadeshis were slaughtered, nearly 10 million Bengali citizens (mostly Hindu) forcibly expelled to India, and it is estimated that the Paksitani militants rape between 200,000-400,000 Bengali women: Hindu and Muslim alike. The militants were even known to set up camps for the specific purpose of mass rape. Though the successive governments managed to officially maintain “secularism” as the “official status quo” after Bangladesh gained their independence, Jihadists & Islamic fundamentalists have continually gained increasing influence in government affairs with the goal of officially replacing “secularism” with “Sharia.” Such a move would strip away any and all civil rights held by non-Muslims individuals within the country.
The tragic reality is that if the Jamaat-e-Islami bring succeed in ushering in a Sharia government, the fate of the nations religious minorities will probably be sealed. They cannot rely on the UN for help, as the international organization has a long, tragic history of turning a blind eye to fundamentalists Islamists seizing power & enforcing their will. Making matters worse, the brainwashed Leftists in Western nations are foolishly dubbing this chaos as a “victory for democracy” an are following their long-standing practice of whitewashing & ignoring Jihadists based violence. Even NGO’s are being threatened with violence as Christian Solidarity International (CSI) reported that five days after the coup their main project manager had his home surrounded by Jihadists armed with swords & guns and told him “This is going to be a 100% Muslim country from now on. There’s no room for Christians, there’s no room for Hindus, you have to leave.” The CSI project manager & his wife were forced to flee to another country, & it’s unknown if they’ll ever return. A similar fate may befall the entire minority population. In 1947 Hindus represented 31% of Bangladesh’s population, now it’s down to 9% while Buddhists only represent .6% of the population & Christians are approximately .5% of the population. Even if they were to unite, they’d be powerless against the overwhelming Muslim majority. In truth, the only thing that prevented these populations from being annihilated in 1971 was when India intervened in the conflict & forced Pakistan & their Jihadists militant allies to stop the slaughter. Unless the status quo changes quickly, the Jamaat-e-Islami may very well succeed in finishing what they started in 1971.
By Robert Battista Jr.
Sources:
Bulut, Uzay. “Hindus in Bangladesh Facing Genocide?” Gatestone Institute. Aug. 29, 2024. Accessed from https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20890/hindus-bangladesh-genocide.
Rashid, Qasim. The Wrong Kind of Muslim: An Untold Story of Persecution and Perseverance.” United States: AyHa Publishing, 2013
Husain, Irfan. Fatal Faultlines: Pakistan, Islam, and the West. Rockville, MD: Manor Publishers, 2012.
Jain, Rishabh. “Bangladeshi Christians & Hindus Advocate for a Secular Country.” Christianity Today. Sept. 06, 2024. Accessed from https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/09/bangladeshi-christians-hindus-advocate-secular-country/
Qasmi, Ali Usman. The Ahmadis and the Politics of Religious Exclusion in Pakistan. London: Anthem Press, 2014.
“Sword-Wielding Muslims Terrorize Christians, Mark Homes with Crosses in Bangladesh.” CBN News. Sept. 06, 2024. Accessed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozk_EqUXjWU.
Yousafzai, Malala and Christina Lamb. I Am Malala. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2013