Misinformation about Hindus being targeted in Bangladesh fuels Islamophobia fears

However, fact-checkers said that most accounts of attacks on the minority community were either exaggerated or false. Experts warned that such misinformation could be aimed at fuelling Islamophobia within India and undermining Bangladesh’s interim government.

While fact-checkers acknowledged that some Hindus have been the victims of attacks following Hasina’s resignation, they said the violence targeted members and supporters of the former prime minister’s ruling Awami League (AL) party, rather than being religiously motivated.

“Immediately after the Awami League party was thrown out of power, angry mobs violently attacked the party’s leaders and supporters, and killed many of them. During these attacks, houses and businesses of all communities, including Hindus, were targeted,” Agence France-Presse fact-checker for Bangladesh Qadaruddin Shishir told This Week in Asia.

“In most cases, the attacks were politically motivated, without stemming from any religious reasons. Some Hindu community leaders also told the local media that those attacks against Hindus did not stem from any religious reasons.”

Hindus constitute about 8 per cent of Bangladesh’s 170 million people and have historically supported Hasina’s AL, which identified itself as largely secular.

Hasina, in office since 2009, was long accused of authoritarianism and corruption. Rights groups have alleged that she misused state machinery to hold on to power, stifle dissent and torture and kill opposition political activists and others extrajudicially.

She resigned as Bangladesh’s prime minister on August 5 after weeks of deadly protests led by students against a government job quota system escalated into a broader movement demanding her resignation. Facing intense