India on Friday once again flagged the attacks on minorities in Bangladesh, stating that the tendency to attribute them to extraneous reasons was emboldening
the perpetrators and deepening the sense of fear among members of the minority
communities.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was responding to a question at the weekly briefing on continuing attacks on minorities in Bangladesh
and whether India had reached out to Dhaka in recent days on this issue. Two Hindus have been killed in Bangladesh in the first week of this year itself.

Jaiswal said: “We continue to witness a disturbing pattern of recurring attacks on minorities as well as their homes and businesses by extremists. Such communal incidents need to be dealt with swiftly and firmly. We have observed a troubling tendency to attribute such incidents to personal rivalries, political differences or extraneous reasons. Such disregard only emboldens the perpetrators and deepens the sense of fear and insecurity among minorities.”

The interim administration of Bangladesh has repeatedly pushed back on Indian criticism of minority attacks, claiming that those targeted were not attacked for their religion but because of their political leanings or personal issues.