HAF and Hindu community groups meet with State Department. Urge US to condemn anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh.

In response to the urgent situation unfurling in Bangladesh, HAF’s Director of Policy Research Anita Joshi, Utsav Chakrabarti of HinduAction, Bengali activist Priya Saha of Bengali Hindu Christian Buddhist Unity Council (BHCBUC), and activist Jay Kansara met with the US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussein at the US State Department in Washington, DC to urge US government action.



The group briefed Ambassador Hussein on the violence directed at Hindus and other religious minorities throughout Bangladesh, sharing documented incidents against Hindus and Hindu temples from the past 48 hours amidst the civil unrest.



Characterizing the meeting, HAF Director of Policy Research Anita Joshi stated:



“We expressed to Ambassador Hussein that the United States’ silence in response to the violence against Hindus and other religious minorities in Bangladesh is unacceptable. The failure of Congress and this administration to acknowledge and condemn the violence against Hindus and other religious minorities has been deafening. The situation on the ground in Bangladesh is urgent and dire. We implore the State Department to use its clout and resources to put an end to this rampant violence against religious minorities, violence rooted in decades of mistrust and maltreatment of Bangladesh’s Hindu minority.”