'The Bangladesh Hindu Genocide': Radical Islam in Bangladesh
Designate Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh a Foreign Terrorist Organization, hold Muhammad Yunus to account.
by Uzay Bulut • December 24, 2025 at 5:00 am
It is high time for the Trump Administration officially to designate Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh a Foreign Terrorist Organization and hold Bangladesh's "interim" leader Muhammad Yunus to account.
Under Yunus's interim administration, Bangladesh has suffered a surge in Islamic radicalization and an alarming rise in attacks on minorities, particularly Hindus.
"The recent events in Bangladesh have resulted in radical Islamic fundamentalists launching an all-out attack on minority communities, particularly the Hindus," reported Insight UK. Other outlets have called the attacks "the Bangladesh Hindu Genocide."
The coalition [of Bangladeshis, Americans, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians] also suggested linking Bangladesh's participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions to the cessation of internal ethnic and religious persecution. The memorandum also proposed a comprehensive Minority Protection Act, officially to recognize minorities and indigenous groups.
"Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh wields an economic power which enables it to act as a parallel state and an economy within the economy.... The main source of Jamaat income is the donations received from individuals and organizations.... These funds were not exclusively allocated for social welfare or religious activities; rather, they were also used to promote militancy and Islamic radicalism. It was noted that Mostaq Ahmed Khan, a former senator of Jamaat-e-Islami, managed to bring in money from a religious extremist group in Turkey. This funding was allegedly utilized to spread militancy and finance terrorism.... Jamaat's principal financial arm is Islami Bank of Bangladesh Ltd. (IBBL)... linked to powerful institutions of the Islamic World, among them is Al Razee Bank of Saudi Arabia." — Preeti Khenta, researcher, Usanas Foundation.
Meanwhile, at least 144 jihadist militants belonging to Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Hizb-ut-Tahrir and others, most of whom are directly connected to Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) or Islamic State (ISIS), were released from prisons since Yunus was placed into the position of "Chief Advisor" of the interim government, reported Blitz on December 24, 2024.
The release also included Jashimuddin Rahmani, the chief of the ABT, a radical Islamic terror group affiliated with Al Qaeda that is behind the murders of several secular bloggers, writers and rights activists in Bangladesh.
Rahmani was convicted of abetting the murder of secular blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in 2013. The news website FirstPost reported that the ABT has been attempting to form a jihadi network in India.
Yunus's interim government, regrettably, has a completely different set of rules for non-Muslims and opposition figures in the country.
[Chinmoy Krishna Das, a prominent Hindu monk]'s arrest followed wider crackdowns on religious minorities and protests by ISKCON against reported persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, with other Hindu priests also detained.
The arrest of [Chinmoy Krishna Das, a prominent Hindu monk] followed wider crackdowns on religious minorities and protests by ISKCON against the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, with other Hindu priests also detained.
"Groups like Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Islamic State–Khorasan (ISK)... promote radical ideologies and rally support. AQIS has praised what it perceives as resistance to corruption and secularism. ISK has promoted jihad and conflict with India, emphasizing divine rewards for participation. Additionally, Islamic State's Al-Naba magazine called for an Islamic revival in Bangladesh, urging the youth to reject secularism, focus on ideological education, and fight injustice. Bangladesh's vulnerability to radicalization is compounded by local groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir-Bangladesh (HT-B). Despite being banned, HT-B continued to spread its propaganda online, holding multiple rallies and targeting youth, especially in schools and colleges, advocating for the establishment of a caliphate." — Iftekharul Bashar, research fellow at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, December 23, 2024.
Last week, a co-worker of a Hindu man, "a poor labourer," 25-year-old Dipu Chandra Das, falsely accused him of insulting Islam. A group of Muslims seized Das -- while he was under police protection -- falsely accused him of blasphemy, and beat him to death. Then, shouting "Allahu akbar!'," they tied Das's body to a tree and set it on fire.
There was no evidence whatsoever that Das committed blasphemy. According to Dr. Taslima Nasreen, who herself was forced to flee Bangladesh in 1994 over death threats, after she was accused of blasphemy:
"Dipu Chandra Das was the sole breadwinner of his family. With his earnings, his disabled father, mother, wife, and child survived. What will happen to them now? Who will help the relatives? Who will bring the mad murderers to justice? Dipu's family doesn't even have the money to flee to India to escape the jihadists' hands. The poor have no one. They have no country left, not even a religion left."
