Washington, Dec 25 (AHN) Bangladesh interim government's Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus has allowed Islamist radicals, jihadists and terrorists to exploit the power vacuum in the country following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, resulting in increased violence against religious minorities, women and secular voices, a report highlighted on Thursday.

It stated that the Yunus-led interim government has actively enabled the radical groups responsible for the persecution of minorities across the South Asian nation.

A report by the New York-based think tank Gatestone Institute emphasised that the Trump administration should officially designate Bangladesh's radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and take steps to hold Yunus accountable.

The report highlighted that an Islamist group targetted the Indian High Commission’s office in Dhaka last week, with video footage showing protesters associated with the July-August 2024 demonstrations in Bangladesh – pushing aside police barricades.

“Amid the deteriorating security situation and the hate speeches targetted at India, the Indian Visa Application Centre in Dhaka was temporarily shut down. The move came hours after India summoned Bangladesh's High Commissioner in New Delhi, Muhammad Riaz Hamidullah, to issue a formal diplomatic protest over inflammatory anti-India statements from Bangladeshi political leaders and recent threats to India's High Commission in Dhaka," it mentioned.

The report also noted that earlier this month, an elderly Hindu couple was discovered brutally murdered at their home in Bangladesh's Rangpur city, with their throats slit.

“No criminal case has been filed or arrests made over the murder of the couple, whose two sons serve as police officers. The bodies of 75-year-old Jogesh Chandra Roy and his wife, Suborna Roy, were discovered on December 7 by neighbours after repeated knocks at their door went unanswered,” it stated.

According to the report, under the Yunus regime, Bangladesh has witnessed a rise in Islamic radicalisation and an escalation in attacks targetting minorities, particularly Hindus.

“The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council documented more than 2,000 incidents of violence against minorities from August 4-20, 2024. At roughly the same time, at least 32 Hindus were murdered, and 13 incidents of rape and harassment against women were recorded, as well as 133 attacks on Hindi temples,” the report stated.

“Minority rights groups have reported that thousands of incidents of communal violence have since taken place in Bangladesh, even as Yunus has insisted that the accounts of anti-Hindu attacks are ‘exaggerated propaganda’,” it added.