The Noakhali Hindu Genocide which saw mass killings, forced conversions and rape took place in October 1946 in the Chittagong Division of what was East Bengal then (present day Bangladesh).
The horrific violence began as the minority Hindu community was preparing to worship Maa Lakshmi.
An estimated 5,000 Hindus, mostly men and boys, were killed and many times that number were forcibly converted to Islam. Hindus were forced to eat beef and recite the Islamic verses (kalma).
Thousands of Hindu women were raped, many in front of their children and husbands, and taken into captivity to be used as sex slaves.
The systematic and gruesome attacks on the Hindu minority led to a sharp decline in their population.
What is shocking is that Noakhali Hindu Genocide is referred to as “riots” whereas all indicators show that it was a full-fledged Genocide:
• Premeditated by Muslim League leaders and Islamist radicals.
• Horrific nature and scale of violence aimed at the cleansing of Hindus.
• Rape of women and kidnapping them to be used as sex slaves.
• Forced Conversions.
• Attacks and destruction of Hindu places of worship.
“One of the first targets of the frenzied Muslim mobs was the mansion of Rajendralal Roychowdhury, who was the president of the Noakhali Bar Association and the Hindu Mahasabha’s Noakhali district unit.”
“Rajendralal protected the Roychowdhury mansion single-handedly for an entire day from baying Islamist crowds. However, the next day he was killed along with other surviving members of his family, and his two daughters were taken captive.”
“Rajendralal’s severed head was presented to Gholam Sarwar Husseini, the mastermind of the Noakhali genocide, and his two daughters were given away to two lieutenants of Husseini as trophies.”
Noakhali Hindu Genocide happened in 1946 but attacks on Hindus and their places of worship continue in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan and more recently in Leicester and Birmingham.
Let us learn from history and pledge – Never Again.
