Bangladesh (MNN) — Bangladesh’s interim government is shifting alliances, moving away from India and getting closer to Pakistan. In the wake of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ousting and subsequent refuge in India, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus leads the interim government.
Both Bangladesh and Pakistan have voiced strong criticisms of India, bringing them closer politically. The two nations also share Islam as the majority religion.
(Graphic courtesy FMI) Bangladesh Flag
This new connection could have significant consequences — not just for politics on the Indian subcontinent, but also for everyday people in Bangladesh.
Patrick Anthony with FMI says, “The interim government is more of a Muslim fundamentalist government [and] they’re trying to build ties with Pakistan instead of India.
“One concern that our partners have is that this may lead to civil war down the road, especially if the former prime minister gets more and more involved.”
As Bangladesh reshapes its global relationships, the question remains — What does this mean for religious freedom?
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council recently called out the government for failing to protect religious minorities, saying officials are even using their power to silence them.
One group feeling the impact is the country’s small Christian community, which makes up just 0.4% of the population. In early August alone, there were over 2,000 incidents of communal violence, leaving many religious minorities feeling unsafe.
Bangladesh (Photo courtesy of FMI)
“People around the country are seeing they haven’t liked Christians to begin with, and they’re seeing more of an opportunity to loot, steal, and burn houses and properties of Christians, and that’s what our partners are feeling,” says Anthony.
“Just last month, our partner said that Muslims attacked a church and broke the boundary of a mission school and they occupied the place.”
Anthony says FMI-supported pastor Rajiv has described how other pastors in Bangladesh are being intimidated by Muslims in their communities to stop preaching.
Yet, “Rajiv believes that the Lord’s using this to make them stronger and more courageous so that they can witness more effectively to the larger community, particularly to Muslims.”
Please join Bangladeshi believers in prayer for their nation. Anthony asks, “One prayer target could be that Christians would be creative and find ways to increase security because if they are attacked by a mob, there may not be a whole lot that they can do.
“Pray for faithfulness, that whether they’re FMI partners or other Christians in the country, that they really would find that this is now an opportune time even more to stand for their churches, to stand for the Gospel — that attackers may see something different and may see that they have a strength that comes from not this world.”
Learn more about FMI’s ministry in Bangladesh.
Header photo: Bangladesh National Parliament House in Dhaka. (Photo by Ashraful997 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=154337869)
