Bangladesh
Religious Freedom Report (2003)
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There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom during the period covered by this report. Citizens generally are free to practice the religion of their choice; however, police, who generally are ineffective in upholding law and order, often are slow to assist members of religious minorities who have been victims of crimes. Although the Government claims that acts of violence against members of religious minority groups are politically motivated and cannot be solely attributed to religion, human rights activists claim that there has been a continued increase in religiously-motivated violence.
The generally amicable relationship among religions in society contributed to religious freedom; however, the number of Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist minorities who experienced discrimination by the Muslim majority has increased. During the period covered by this report, the Government was led by the centrist Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which heads a four-party coalition that includes two Islamic parties. The majority of Hindus traditionally vote for the opposition Awami League (AL). In 2002 the newly-elected BNP Government arrested and intimidated AL leaders and repealed key legislation passed by the previous AL administration. The animosity between the parties often leads to politically motivated violence and heightens societal tensions between Muslims and Hindus.
The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom issues with the Government in the context of its overall dialog and policy of promoting human rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has a total area of approximately 53,000 square miles, and its population is approximately 130 million. Sunni Muslims constitute 88 percent of the population. Approximately
10 percent of the population is Hindu. The remainder of the population mainly is Christian (mostly Catholic) and Buddhist. Members of these faiths are found predominantly in the tribal (non-Bengali) populations of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, although many other indigenous groups in various parts of the country are Christian as well. There also are small populations of Shi'a Muslims, Sikhs, Baha'is, animists, and Ahmadis. Estimates of their populations vary widely, from a few hundred up to 100,000 adherents for each faith. Religion is an important part of community identity for citizens, including those who do not participate actively in religious prayers or services; atheism is extremely rare.
There are no reliable estimates of the number of missionaries active in the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution establishes Islam as the state religion but provides for the right--subject to law, public order, and morality--to practice the religion of one's choice, and the Government generally respects this provision in practice; however, some members of the Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist minorities experienced discrimination.
Religious organizations are not required to register with the Government; however, all nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including religious organizations, are required to register with the NGO Affairs Bureau if they receive foreign financial assistance for social development projects. The Government has the legal ability to cancel the registration of an NGO or to take other actions against it. However, such powers rarely were used and did not affect NGOs with religious affiliations.
Family laws concerning marriage, divorce, and adoption differ slightly depending on the religion of the person involved. There are no legal restrictions on marriage between members of different faiths.
Religion exerts a powerful influence on politics, and the Government is sensitive to the Muslim consciousness of the majority of its citizens.
The Government provides some monetary support for the development of Muslim mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples, and Christian churches.
Religion is taught in government schools, and parents have the right to have their children taught in their own religion; however, some claim that many government-employed religious teachers of minority religions are neither members of the religion they are teaching nor qualified to teach it. Although transportation may not always be available for children to attend religion classes away from school, in practice schools with few religious minority students often work out arrangements with local churches or temples, which then direct religious studies outside school hours.
Major religious festivals and holy days of the Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian faiths are celebrated as national holidays. In April Christians staged a demonstration on Holy Thursday at the Parliament to demand a public holiday for Easter.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom
In January 2001, the High Court ruled illegal all fatwas, or expert opinions on Islamic law. Fatwas include decisions as to when holidays begin based upon the sightings of the moon; matters of marriage and divorce; the meting out of punishments for perceived moral transgressions; and other religious issues. Islamic tradition dictates that only those Muftis (religious scholars) who have expertise in Islamic law are authorized to declare a fatwa. However, in practice, village religious leaders sometimes make declarations in individual cases and call the declaration a fatwa. Sometimes this results in extrajudicial punishments, often against women for their perceived moral transgressions. In deeming all fatwas illegal, the High Court's intention was to end the extrajudicial enforcement of fatwas or other declarations by religious leaders. The pronouncement resulted in violent public protests (see Section III). Several weeks later, the Appellate Court stayed the High Court's ruling. No date has been set for rehearing the issue.
Foreign missionaries were allowed to work in the country; however, their right to proselytize is not protected by the Constitution, and local authorities and communities often objected to efforts to convert persons from Islam to other religions. Foreign missionaries often face delays of several months in obtaining or renewing visas. In the past, some missionaries who were perceived to be converting Muslims to other faiths subsequently were unable to renew their visas, which must be renewed annually. In mid-2001 the Department of Immigration and Passports began to issue regularly a new visa category for foreign missionaries working in the country. The processing of the new visas apparently created complications initially; however, there were no recent reports of any current problems with receiving these visas. Some foreign missionaries reported that internal security forces and others closely monitored their activities. In addition, the Government pressured some missionaries who advocated human rights by filing false allegations against them.
There are no financial penalties imposed on the basis of religious beliefs; however, religious minorities are disadvantaged in practice in such areas as access to jobs in government or the military, and in political office. The Government has appointed some Hindus to senior civil service positions. However, religious minorities remain underrepresented in some government jobs, especially at the higher levels of the civil and foreign services. Selection boards in the government services often lacked minority group representation. The government-owned Bangladesh Bank employs approximately 10 percent non-Muslims in its upper ranks. Hindus dominate the teaching profession, particularly at the high school and university levels. Some Hindus report that Muslims tend to favor Hindus in some professions, such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants. They attribute this to the education that the British offered during the 19th century, which Muslims boycotted but Hindus embraced. Employees are not required to disclose their religion, but religion generally can be determined by a person's name.
Many Hindus have been unable to recover landholdings lost because of discrimination in the application of the law, especially under the now-defunct Vested Property Act. The Act was a Pakistan-era law that allowed "enemy" (in practice Hindu) lands to be expropriated by the Government. Approximately 2.5 million acres of land were seized from Hindus, and almost all of the 10 million Hindus in the country were affected. Property ownership, particularly among Hindus, has been a contentious issue since partition in 1947. However, in April 2001, Parliament passed the Vested Property Return Act. This law stipulated that land remaining under government control that was seized under the Vested Property Act be returned to its original owners, provided that the original owners or their heirs remain resident citizens. Hindus who fled to India and resettled there are not eligible to have their land returned, and the Act does not provide for compensation for or return of properties that the Government has sold. By law, the Government was required to prepare a list of vested property holdings by October 2001, and claims were to have been filed within 90 days of the publication date. No further claims were to be accepted after that period expired. As of the end of the reporting period, the Government had yet to publish the list of vested properties.
On November 26, 2002, the Parliament passed an amendment to the Vested Property Act, allowing the Government unlimited time to return the vested properties. The properties are to remain under the control of Deputy Commissioners until a tribunal settles ownership. The amendment also gives the Deputy Commissioners the right to lease such properties until they are returned to their owners. The Government claimed that this provision would prevent the properties from being stolen.
