From: kundu@watson.ibm.com (Sandip Kundu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh
Subject: Re: India vs. Bangladesh (Re: We Need A Hindu-Muslim Dialog)
Date: 16 Apr 92 18:09:21 GMT
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM

In article <1992Apr12.044222.24146@cs.yale.edu> ahmed-shakil@CS.YALE.EDU (Shakil Waiz Ahmed) writes:

     What I object to is that you pick two "Islamic" societies and use this
     as a basis for lumping all Islamic societies together.  You correctly
     note above that you didn't say anything nasty about Bangladesh.  Why?
     Malaysia and Bangladesh are both Islamic societies, and yet their
     problems with minorities seem less numerous than those in India.
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I would welcome any numeric proof of the statement. On the other hand
I claim that Bangladesh is highly repressive of its minorities.

   There are more than 50,000 refugees from CHT, camping in southern 
Tripura, including two former MPs of Bangladesh Parliament, Upendra Lal Chakma
and Bhagya Charan Chakma. 

   If I were to list the minority places of worship, that were destroyed
since 1971 in Bangladesh, one a day, it would take me more than a year 
to do so. By then there would be several more. A list is available from 

          Bangladesh Hindu-Bouddha-Christian Oikya Parishad
          53 W. Tetjuri Bazar, Tejgaon, Dhaka-1215, Bangladesh

on payment of, I think $5.00 (more for pictures to be included).

The details is in the format :

     Evening of November 11, 1989, 400 year old Kali temple at Chinishpur
     in District of Narsingdi was looted and set fire.

In 1989 when Babri-Masjid and Ram-Mandir controversy was at peak in India,
a riot erupted in Bangladesh in which more than 1000 houses belonging to
Hindus were destroyed and more than 100 temples were destroyed. I have not
heard of a single Masjid being destroyed in India in 1989. Correct me if I
am wrong.

According to Bangladesh Govt's own statistics, minority population in 
Bangladesh :

            year        muslims    minorities

            1941        70.3       29.7
            1951        76.9       23.1
            1961        80.4       19.6
            1974        85.4       14.6
            1981        86.6       13.4

In absolute numbers there were 1.2 million fewer minorities in Bangladesh
in 1981 than in 1974. (Interesting to note that Bangladesh does not
officially acknowledge any emigration to India).

In my considered opinion, the reason why we do not hear 
as much about repression of minorities in Bangladesh as in India is because
minorities in India have a greater collective voice. This has also been
acknowledged somewhat in Bangladesh (Sangbad of Dhaka had an editorial).
Let us examine some statistics again :

Religious minorities constitute about 28% of all military officers in Indian
Forces. In Bangladesh (govt statistics 1987) :

           posts        strength   number of minorities

           Second Lt    900        3
           Captain      1300       8
           Major        1000       40
           Lt Colonel   450        8
           Colonel      70         1
           Brigadier    65         0
           Maj. Gen     22         0

           Total        3807       62
            
There are no minority ambassadors/ high commisioners in Bangladesh missions
abroad. There are only _TWO_ low ranking officers. Anybody remebers the name
of Indian Ambassador to US :)-

I think any discussion of minorities Bangladesh Vs. India, based on pure
statistics is very interesting. I have more stats to present, but
not enough time to post.

If you make a posting on this topic that you want me to see, please
email a copy. I usually catch news once in two weeks.


Sandip Kundu