Bangladesh (MNN) — On Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled Bangladesh after a violent crackdown failed to stop student-led protests against her government. Thousands of protesters celebrated her departure.
However, instead of the conflict toning down, reports are coming out about protestors targeting religious minorities and those perceived to be supporters of the former prime minister.
Bruce Allen with FMI says they are getting updates from Christian ministry partners in Bangladesh. “Opposition parties are vandalizing their opponents’ offices, burning down internet facilities, all sorts of things like that.
Protestors after the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (Photo courtesy of S.M.M.Musabbir Uddin, Wikimedia Commons: CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151201673)
“Our partners say that they expect violence to increase. In fact, while I was chatting with one of them, he said, ‘I hear gunfire right now. Gotta go.’ So it’s a very volatile situation, even though it looks like things should calm down because their major demand of the prime minister’s resignation has occurred.”
Many churches and Hindu temples have been destroyed, and several people killed. One Christian pastor was approached by a group of people demanding he pay them to avoid harm, according to an FMI partner.
FMI’s ministry efforts in Bangladesh have continued, but engagement has gone down with people hesitant to leave their homes.
Allen says, “The protests began in late June. There were the curfews — which were, in some places, ‘shoot on sight’ curfews. That’s scary enough, so people would be hesitant to go out at all. ‘Do I go to a church service even though it’s daylight?’ People are hunkering down.”
Yet, despite the chaos, “Pastor Rajib, who’s one of our leadership team members, says that services still have gone on with all of our partners [and] church planters across the nation. In fact, I was pleased to see…photos of pastors leading their congregations in prayer vigils interceding for the country.”
In the wake of former Prime Minister Hasina’s departure, an interim government will be set up. Time will tell what kind of reforms this moment will spur in the country, but Allen says we can pray that this may also open the doors for spiritual revival across Bangladesh.
Rajpara Police Office engulfed in flames after the Resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (Photo courtesy of Nahid Hossain, Wikimedia Commons: CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151220471)
“This is the third largest Muslim-majority nation in the world,” says Allen. “If Christians can begin to have a voice in this country, what a great opportunity for the country.”
“Pray for calm to be restored, for people to become unified in the vision for government and social reform.”
Also, Allen asks, “Pray for the evangelists and the church planters to have boldness to declare the Gospel of the Prince of Peace.
“Whenever there’s upheaval [and] people are feeling uncertain about life, it’s also a great time to say here’s what is certain: Jesus can be the anchor for you, not just in this life, but for eternity.”
Header photo of Bangladesh protestors cheering after the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (Photo courtesy of Nahid Sultan, Wikimedia Commons: CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151233908)
