A 38-year-old Hindu grocery shop owner was fatally stabbed in broad daylight in Cox’s Bazar town on Saturday, allegedly for refusing to pay extortion money, in the latest incident fueling fears of persistent vulnerability among Bangladesh’s Hindu minority since the political transition in August 2024.
The victim, Ganesh Pal, a resident of Dakshin Sahityika Palli near the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) camp, was attacked around 3 pm. According to his wife Shefali Pal and brother Ashish Pal, the assailant, identified as neighbor Jisan (or Zishan), had repeatedly demanded extortion money related to septic tank installation at their newly built home.
Prior disputes had escalated into arguments, and on Saturday, Jisan allegedly confronted Ganesh, pulled out a knife, and stabbed him multiple times. Ganesh was rushed to a hospital but was declared dead on arrival.
Sadar Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Chhomi Uddin confirmed that preliminary investigations indicate Jisan, known locally for involvement in minor crimes, demanded money from Ganesh, who refused. The refusal led to a heated exchange, after which Jisan attacked with a knife. Another youth was present at the scene. Police have launched a hunt for the suspects and are urging the family to file a formal murder case.
This killing comes amid a disturbing pattern of targeted violence against Hindus reported since the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in August 2024 and the installation of the interim administration under Muhammad Yunus. Minority advocacy groups, including the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCOP) and others, have documented hundreds of incidents involving murders, extortion, temple attacks, land grabs, and mob violence, often linked to criminal elements exploiting perceived impunity.
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Recent cases highlight the trend:
– In late February 2026, two Hindus were killed in Chattogram: 30-year-old Akash Das, a toy factory worker, was stabbed to death on February 25 after intervening in an extortion-related assault on a colleague; and 70-year-old Chandan Dey (or Chandan Kanti De) was shot dead on February 26 while resisting cattle thieves who broke into his shed early in the morning.
– In January 2026, 60-62-year-old Madhu Chandra Shil died in Kurigram’s Rajarhat upazila after a violent clash over a long-standing land boundary dispute with a neighbor.
Reports from human rights organizations indicate dozens of Hindu fatalities in targeted attacks over the past year and a half, with some sources citing over 100 minority deaths (many Hindus) in 2025-2026 alone, often tied to extortion, false accusations, property disputes, or vigilantism. Advocacy groups have raised alarms about a surge in such incidents, including the high-profile December 2025 lynching and burning of garment worker Dipu Chandra Das over false blasphemy claims and the arbitrary detention of rights leader Chinmoy Prabhu Das, which drew widespread condemnation.
The Hindu community in affected areas continues to express heightened fear, with families grieving breadwinners and elderly members. Residents in Cox’s Bazar and elsewhere demand swift arrests, impartial probes, and stronger protections against extortion rackets and land mafias that disproportionately target minorities.
Authorities have pledged action in the Ganesh Pal case, with ongoing operations to apprehend the perpetrators. However, critics argue that without decisive, transparent enforcement and measures to dismantle criminal networks, such tragedies risk eroding public trust and communal harmony. The incident underscores calls for robust law enforcement to ensure no community remains an “easy target” amid Bangladesh’s evolving political landscape.
The BNP government, since taking office on February 17, has not taken any effective measures to ensure justice for the previous incidents, providing compensations and rebuilding trust among the minorities.
On February 22, the Detective Branch (DB) of Mymensingh District Police arrested another key suspect, Md. Bablu Mia, in Dipu murder case. Preliminary investigations reveal that Bablu played a pivotal role in mobilising the Touhidi Janata at the factory gate of Pioneer Knitwears (BD) Limited.
He incited the mob by gathering people and spreading false allegations of blasphemy. He also chanted slogans to heighten tensions and actively participated in beating Dipu at the gate before assisting in dragging the half-dead victim to the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, where the enraged crowd continued the assault.
Before the election, a survey exposed the Yunus regime’s willful blindness to minority repression: over 50% of religious minorities are gripped by anxiety, and more than 25% feel utterly unsafe in their own homes. The Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) survey, released on February 8 during a Dhaka event, polled 505 minority community members and laid bare the terror Yunus’ regime pretends doesn’t exist.
Over half expressed deep concern about voting amid the regime’s orchestrated chaos, while a quarter labelled themselves “unsafe” or “extremely unsafe”—a chilling echo of Bangladesh’s dark history where post-election pogroms have repeatedly targeted minorities.
Adding fuel to the fire, a Deutsche Welle (DW) report paints a harrowing picture of how Yunus’ jihadist-patron regime has turned minority lives into a nightmare since the August 2024 coup. Families reeling from recent attacks describe sudden, savage violence with zero protection from Yunus’ complicit authorities, who gaslight the nation by insisting most incidents are “unrelated to communal tensions.”
Rights advocates document a surge in intimidation against Hindus, Christians, and Ahmadiyya Muslims, but Yunus’ minions bury the truth, refusing to investigate, prosecute thugs, or provide any compensation—leaving victims destitute and displaced.
With security in shambles under Yunus’ watch, minorities tell DW they no longer feel safe in their neighborhoods, as political uncertainty strips them of their traditional secular ally, the banned Awami League. Forced to navigate a toxic landscape dominated by BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami’s sharp, divisive rhetoric, even some Islamic groups report being singled out.
As the vote looms, the burning question isn’t electoral winners—it’s whether Yunus’ successor regime will bother ensuring minorities’ survival or continue the patronising of jihadists who butcher with impunity.
Dhaka University professor Robaet Ferdous didn’t hold back in his February 9 blistering critique, accusing Yunus’ jihadist-propped tyranny of trapping minorities in a “double paradox” and reducing them to “permanent second-class citizens.” Fresh from surveying torched homes in Chittagong’s Rauzan and Mirsarai—where at least 19 Hindu residences were firebombed to terrorise voters—Ferdous thundered: “Houses locked and set ablaze not for loot, but to instil fear and keep them from the polls.”
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Damned if they vote (facing retaliation) or don’t (smeared as boycotters), minorities beg for divine justice amid Yunus’ bribery-riddled law enforcement failures.
This echoes the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCOP)’s February 7 scathing press release, which blasted major parties like BNP for ignoring minority rights in manifestos, omitting safeguards for secularism and religious freedom—a deliberate betrayal under Yunus’ watch. BHBCOP condemned BNP’s Fakhrul Islam Alamgir for downplaying violence as “political issues,” eroding any trust in safety pledges. “This ruthless neglect dashes hopes and threatens survival,” they snarled, holding parties accountable for potential low turnout.
Citizens for Human Rights’ February 8 press conference amplified the fury, with Chief Executive Zakir Hossain detailing the savagery: “Attackers aimed to incinerate families alive; now locals vigil with CCTV in desperation.” They demanded special security, swift arrests, compensation, rehabilitation, mental health aid, and Human Rights Commission oversight—demands Yunus’ regime ignores, complicit in voter suppression.
A Bloody Legacy Of Denial
This outcry builds on a grotesque tapestry of atrocities under Yunus’ jihadist patronage, where repression is denied, perpetrators walk free, and victims get nothing but empty words. BHBCOP’s January 30 report tallied 522 communal incidents in 2025: 66 murders, 28 rapes/gang rapes, 95 temple attacks, 102 home/business assaults, and 66 evictions—spilling into 2026 with 42 more by late January, including 11 killings and 9 temple desecrations. Yunus’ sycophants dismiss it as “neighbour disputes,” shielding jihadists while arresting Hindu leaders like ISKCON’s Chinmoy Krishna Das on trumped-up charges.
Horrors include Mymensingh’s Dipu Chandra Das lynched and burned over false blasphemy; Gopalganj’s Piyas Majumdar suffocated; Dinajpur’s Bhavesh Chandra Roy was beaten to death; Rajbari’s Amrit Mandal was mob-lynched. Yunus’ regime grants de facto immunity, forcing advocates like Rana Dasgupta into hiding. Backed by Jamaat radicals, this pogrom rigs polls by diluting secularism and smearing minorities as Awami loyalists, slashing turnout through “systematic rural terror,” as analyst Altaf Parvez decries.
India protests Yunus’ “disturbing pattern” of whitewashing, but BHBCOP’s demands—banning communal appeals, army deployment, and hate speech prosecution—fall on deaf ears. Activist Ranjan Karmaker fumes: “This isn’t democracy; it’s genocide by proxy.”
Hindus won’t forget the BNP’s torture of minorities in 1992, 2001-06, 2012-15, 2021, and post-August 2024, despite formal statements by the BNP government on communal harmony.