At the time of Partition in 1947, the Hindu population in what is now Bangladesh was approximately 31%. By 1961, Hindus comprised 19% of the population, and by 1974, the Hindu community had further declined to 14%. According to Saleem Samad, a journalist and human rights observer, in 1991, the Hindu population in Bangladesh should have been 32.5 million, considering normal rates of growth. The actual population was only 12.5 million

Bangladesh now has a total population of approximately 158.6 million people, only about 9% of who are Hindus. The percentage of the Hindu community in Bangladesh has dropped from 31% to 9% (or less) in the span of 60 years. Prof. Barakat's study, “Living with Vested Property,” looks at official population statistics as well as local administrative office records. Prof. Barakat concluded that the Hindu population, as a share of the total population, dropped from 18% in 1961 to 12% in 1981, and finally to 9% in 2001

By this calculation, the number of Hindus missing from Bangladesh over the two decades ending in 1991 is 20 million. This figure includes both those persons killed or forced to flee the country. The number of Hindus who fled Bangladesh between 1964 and 1991 was estimated at “5.3 million people or 535 people per day

Prof. Barakat also looked at the rate of population growth, checked the actual number of Hindus living in Bangladesh, and concluded that the total missing Hindu population from 1964-2001 was 8.1 million – a number equivalent to 218,819 missing Hindus each year. He believes that the pressure on the Hindu population to leave Bangladesh was primarily due to the Vested Property Act

There were four major developments/incidents that occurred in Bangladesh in 2011 that were emblematic of the state of affairs in this South Asian nation. The first significant event was Parliament’s passage of the 15th amendment to the Constitution, which retains Islam as the state religion and makes explicit reference to the Koranic invocation -- Bismillah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim, or “In the name of Allah (God), Most Merciful, Most Gracious.”

 

Another development representative of the growing influence of Islamism across the country was the enforcement of Islamic blasphemy injunctions in the academic setting. In one particular incident, a Hindu teacher, Shankar Biswas, was fired after students alleged he made a blasphemous remark against the Prophet Mohammed. While most news reports failed to mention the details of the incident, a local daily, Amar Desh, noted that it was a harmless exchange between Mr. Biswas and his students, which started when Mr. Biswas called a student with a small beard a “goat” for not answering a simple question. Some students challenged the teacher by asking him whether Bengali Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore was a “big goat” because he sported a big beard, to which the teacher responded that Prophet Mohammed could also be called a goat because he sported a beard. Similarly, a group of pro-Sharia parties also demanded the ouster of a Hindu assistant principal for allegedly making blasphemous remarks.

The third notable event concerned the findings of a judicial commission tasked with probing the post election violence of 2001, when Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) workers carried out a systematic campaign of rape, murder, and intimidation against Hindus. The commission found that 26,352 people, including 25 ministers and lawmakers of the previous BNP-Jamaat alliance government, were involved in perpetrating the violence. According to the commission, there were more than 18,000 incidents of major crimes, including murder, rape, arson, and looting by members of the then ruling BNP-Jamaat alliance in the 15 months following the elections in October 2001. The commission’s findings demonstrate the extensive nature of state sponsored violence against the Hindu community in Bangladesh.

The fourth major development was the passage of the Vested Properties Return (Amendment) Bill 2011, which theoretically enables Hindus to reclaim land and property confiscated by the government or occupied by Muslims under the Vested Property Act of 1974, Enemy Property Act 1965 (by Pakistan), and other discriminatory property laws implemented by Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947. The new legislation, however, does not clearly address how the previously seized properties will be returned and it is uncertain whether the Bill will be effectively implemented. This latest Bill may thus become yet another in a series of laws that have failed to return confiscated properties and end the ongoing encroachment of Hindu owned land.

Collectively, these four developments demonstrate the enduring vulnerability of Bangladesh’s minority populations, particularly Hindus, who have borne the brunt of the discrimination and oppression by successive governments in East Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The election of Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party on January 6, 2009 was hailed as a victory for secular forces and a defeat for the pro-Islamist BNP led by Khaleda Zia. It was also expected to bring about a significant change in the conditions of minorities. This led the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to remove Bangladesh from its list of “Countries of Particular Concern” in May 2009,

Despite initial optimism with the election of the current Awami League government in Bangladesh, the plight of Hindus and other minorities has not significantly improved in the last few years. Non-Muslims continue to face widespread violence and discrimination, attacks on religious sites, and women are frequently kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam, often with complicit support from local politicians and police. According to Odhikar, a human rights group, there were nearly 1,100 recorded incidents of violence against minorities (mostly Hindus) between 2008 and August 2011. Moreover, Hindu owned land continues to be appropriated on a massive scale, while the government has failed to implement policies ensuring the return of previously seized land. Consequently, Bangladesh is designated as an Egregious Violator of human rights

In addition, the establishment of a War Crimes Tribunal in 2010 to bring to trial those accused of rape, murder, and genocide during Bangladesh’s struggle for independence in 1971 was a positive step. The Hasina government set up another tribunal to hasten the trial and prosecution of those who committed crimes. Thus far, the tribunal has found Jamaat-e Islami leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, to have committed the war crimes.