Washington, D.C., February 9, 2026 — A coalition of U.S.-based human rights and social welfare organizations on Monday issued a stark warning that Bangladesh’s secular democracy and its religious and ethnic minorities face an existential threat ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections scheduled for February 12, 2026.
Speaking at a press briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, representatives from groups including the Bangladeshi Hindu, Buddhist and Christian Unity Council USA, Bangladesh Human Rights Watch, the Democracy Restoration Forum, United Hindus of USA, Jagannath Hall Alumni Association, and Amnesty Freedom alleged that Islamist forces led by Jamaat-e-Islami are poised to seize power through the electoral process. They claimed Jamaat-e-Islami is operating through surrogate political platforms such as the National Citizens Party (NCP) and the Amar Bangladesh Party (AB Party).
The speakers drew parallels with the rise of Islamist governments in Algeria in 1991 and Egypt in 2012, warning that Bangladesh could be transformed into a Sharia-governed Islamic state under a Majlis-e-Shura, ultimately moving toward a caliphate model similar to Afghanistan or ISIL-controlled territories.
The organizations accused Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies of having a historic role in the 1971 genocide during Bangladesh’s War of Independence, in which an estimated three million people were killed, around 200,000 women were subjected to sexual violence, and nearly 10 million—mostly Hindus—were forced to flee to India. They said these same forces are now reasserting themselves politically.
According to the speakers, the situation sharply deteriorated after August 5, 2024, when violent unrest led to the collapse of the elected Awami League government. They alleged that Islamist groups, with ideological and logistical backing from transnational extremist networks, toppled the government and installed Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus as head of an interim administration on August 8, 2024, to facilitate an Islamist electoral victory.
Human rights groups claimed that since then, more than 2,900 incidents of violence against religious and ethnic minorities have been documented, including arson attacks, lynchings, rapes, and at least 182 murders. They cited the killing of Dipu Chandra Das in December 2025 and widespread attacks on Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and Indigenous communities as evidence of systematic persecution.
The briefing also highlighted what speakers described as mass repression of the Awami League, including the banning of its political activities, thousands of arrests under “Operation Devil Hunt,” and deaths in custody of senior leaders, including former cabinet minister Ramesh Chandra Sen in February 2026. They alleged that more than 350,000 party members and supporters have been detained and that tens of thousands have fled the country.
Speakers further accused the interim government of dismantling press freedom, citing assaults, murders, mass dismissals of journalists, fabricated legal cases, and the burning of major newspapers in December 2025.
Calling the upcoming election “neither free nor inclusive,” several speakers warned that excluding the Awami League—Bangladesh’s largest political party—effectively disenfranchises more than half of the electorate, including moderate Muslims and all religious minorities.
Concluding the briefing, the organizations urged the United Nations, the United States, and other democratic nations to take immediate action, warning that failure to do so could result in irreversible damage to Bangladesh’s secular foundations and regional security. They said international pressure could still prevent what they described as a looming humanitarian and democratic catastrophe.
