By Dimitra Staikou
“Peace requires everyone to be in the circle, wholeness, inclusion,” writes Isabel Allende, encapsulating a fundamental prerequisite for any form of sustainable social peace. In Bangladesh, however, the principle of inclusion is being tested in an increasingly violent manner. Just weeks ahead of the national elections scheduled for February 2026, the country’s religious minorities are facing an unprecedented escalation of communal violence, which, according to the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, can no longer be viewed as sporadic but instead constitutes an organized campaign of intimidation with a clear political objective: to obstruct their free participation in the electoral process.
In December 2025 alone, at least 51 serious incidents were recorded, including murders, arson attacks on homes and places of worship, looting of businesses, torture based on false blasphemy accusations, attempted rape, and violent assaults. The wave of terror continued into the first days of January, with public killings, hostage-taking of entire families, sexual violence, and widespread destruction of minority-owned property across multiple regions of the country. The Council warns that these attacks do not constitute isolated crimes but form part of a systematic pattern of violence that has plunged minority communities into fear and uncertainty, directly undermining the democratic process, and it urges the government and the Election Commission to take immediate and substantive measures before the situation escalates into a complete breakdown of security and electoral legitimacy.
According to a statement by the Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, the security situation for religious minorities in Bangladesh has deteriorated rapidly in the weeks leading up to the February 2026 parliamentary elections. During December 2025 alone, at least 51 incidents of communal violence were documented, including 10 murders, arson attacks on homes and temples, looting, abductions, torture through false blasphemy accusations, attempted rape, and violent assaults. The violence continued into early January with killings, family hostage situations, extensive theft, and extreme cases of sexual abuse. The organization warns that these attacks are not isolated incidents but represent a systematic effort to intimidate minorities and prevent their free participation in the elections, emphasizing that fear and insecurity have engulfed communities nationwide and calling on the government and the Election Commission to take immediate and effective action to prevent further escalation.
The Hindu minority in Bangladesh has become particularly vulnerable during the current phase of political instability, as political polarization increasingly translates into targeted violence. Public narratives that collectively associate Hindus with the previous political leadership have reinforced an atmosphere of suspicion in which peaceful gatherings have been met with repression, religious leaders have been arrested on questionable charges, and entire minority neighborhoods have been targeted following political incidents. Religious identity has thus been transformed into a factor of political risk.
This escalation was starkly illustrated in December 2025, when a 27-year-old Hindu man, Dipu Chandra Das, was lynched by a mob in the Baluka area of the Mymensingh district following accusations of blasphemy, in an incident that involved his public hanging and the burning of his body. During the same period, arson attacks on Hindu homes were reported across several regions of southern Bangladesh, most notably in the village of Dumritala, where at least five houses were completely destroyed. These events form part of a broader chain of attacks that had already unfolded earlier in 2025, when more than 15 to 20 Hindu homes were looted in Gangachara, forcing families to flee their homes.
Since the summer of 2024, minority organizations have documented thousands of incidents of violence, harassment, and intimidation against Hindu and other minority communities, including vandalism of temples and looting of property. Under these conditions, many communities have drastically curtailed their public religious activities and have begun requesting heightened police protection even for basic religious observances. Durga Puja celebrations in late 2025 were held under strict security measures in several areas, reflecting a widespread sense that religious identity has become a factor of heightened risk amid political polarization and institutional weakness.
Conditions are even more acute for indigenous and non-Muslim populations in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. There, attempts to exercise the right to peaceful assembly have been met with lethal force by security forces. Protests over serious crimes, including sexual violence against minors, resulted in fatalities, while mass mobilizations followed attacks by illegal settlers, often with the tolerance or participation of state authorities. The destruction of homes and Buddhist temples illustrates how ethnic, religious, and territorial tensions intersect, particularly during periods of electoral uncertainty.
This environment is further aggravated by the systematic shrinking of civic space. Media outlets have been subjected to arson attacks, journalists have been arrested or harassed under broad security legislation, and key oversight institutions, such as the National Human Rights Commission, have been weakened or effectively dismantled. The absence of institutional safeguards leaves religious minorities without effective legal protection or international visibility, reinforcing a climate of impunity. As Bangladesh moves toward the 2026 elections, the convergence of political violence, religious polarization, and institutional fragility raises serious concerns about the country’s democratic stability.
The comparison with Myanmar highlights a different yet equally alarming model of exclusion. There, the persecution of the Rohingya illustrates how religion and state power can merge into a centrally designed system of citizenship deprivation, movement restrictions, and mass displacement. At the same time, in Pakistan in 2025, religious minorities, particularly Christians and Hindus, faced recurring waves of violence, abductions, forced conversions, and targeted attacks, while vague blasphemy laws functioned as instruments of social control and institutional repression. Mob violence, prolonged detention, and limited judicial protection have created an environment of persistent insecurity for religious minorities.
Events unfolding in Bangladesh and Pakistan reveal a dangerous trajectory in which religious identity is instrumentalized for exclusion and violence against minorities, undermining fundamental rights and the democratic legitimacy of the states themselves. This picture heightens concern about Iran, where the complete fusion of state power and religious dogmatism has led to systematic repression of freedom of conscience and the criminalization of dissent. More broadly, across many political and social contexts in the Muslim world, violence appears increasingly to be privileged over freedom in relations with religious others, in direct contradiction to Islam’s own theological principles. The Qur’an is explicit in Surah Al-Kahf (18:29): “The truth is from your Lord; whoever wills, let him believe, and whoever wills, let him disbelieve.” The distance between this principle and political practice now stands as the true measure of the crisis, and the central question of whether faith will continue to be used as a pretext for repression or reclaimed as a foundation for freedom and coexistence.
About the Author:
Dimitra Staikou is a Greek lawyer, journalist, and professional writer with extensive expertise on South Asia, China, and the Middle East. Her analyses on geopolitics, international trade, and human rights have been published in leading outlets, including Modern Diplomacy, HuffPost Greece, Skai.gr, Eurasia Review, and the Daily Express (UK). Fluent in English, Greek, and Spanish, Dimitra combines legal insight with on-the-ground reporting and creative storytelling, offering a nuanced perspective on global affairs.