New York: New Yorkers awoke to a powerful appeal to the world community from the Hindu community in the United States, as American groups coordinated a massive airline banner calling for immediate global action to end the horrific Hindu genocide in Bangladesh.

According to media sources, the giant banner soared above the Hudson River and ironically circled the Statue of Liberty, the world’s icon of human dignity, freedom, and equality.

The 1971 genocide, as described by U.S. Congress Resolution HR 1430 in 2022, claimed 2.8 million deaths and resulted in at least 200,000 rapes of mostly Hindu women, leaving an enduring scar on the region.

Since then, Bangladesh’s Hindu population has declined from 20% in 1971 to only 8.9% in recent years.

According to news reports from Bangladesh, targeted violence, systematic poverty, lynchings, kidnappings of minor girls, and forced job resignations affecting up to 200,000 Hindus, as well as property seizures, pose a serious existential threat to the country’s 13 to 15 million Hindu population.

Since August 5, 2024, there have been approximately 250 verified attacks and more than 1,000 reported events.

Sitangshu Guha, from the Bangladesh Hindu Community and one of the event organisers, highlighted the threat, stating, “Hindus in Bangladesh are on the verge of extinction. Hopefully, this will raise awareness among the civilised world and prompt the UN to take action to save the victims of militant Islamic forces in Bangladesh. If Bangladesh becomes Hindu-free, it will become Afghanistan 2.0, and militants will spread to neighbouring India and other parts of the world, including the West. This is everyone’s problem.”

Pankaj Mehta, another activist and member of the Interfaith Human Rights Coalition who helped organise the event, added, “It is time for the UN Human Rights Council to put aside politics and officially recognise the 1971 Bangladesh genocide, the largest genocide since World War II. Three U.S.-based organisations—The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, Genocide Watch, and the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience—have already recognised the atrocities committed by Pakistani occupation forces and their Islamist allies in 1971 as genocide, primarily targeting the Hindu minority. The UN must follow suit and take steps to prevent another looming genocide.”

Surjit Chowdhary, founding member of Sree Gita Sangha in New Jersey, USA, urged the Bangladesh government to stop all violence against the Hindu community and address political differences through democratic processes.

The emergence of Islamist fundamentalism in Bangladesh poses a severe threat to India because it has the potential to expand over porous borders, affecting West Bengal and beyond, given the existing links between radical elements on both sides.

It is also causing alarm among ordinary Americans, akin to the anxieties experienced during the Afghanistan crisis.

Humanitarian watchdogs are constantly monitoring the deteriorating situation in Bangladesh, afraid that growing violence would lead to a full-fledged genocide.

Americans are being urged to boycott Bangladeshi garments, which account for 85 percent of the country’s export profits, until the violence stops and the offenders are held accountable.

Executives from key buyers of Bangladeshi clothes, including Walmart, H&M, Gap Inc., Target, PVH Corp., and VF Corporation, have been urged to suspend shipments from the country, as economic support for the country is now viewed as encouraging terrorism against Hindus and other minorities.

The Jewish community in America has also expressed support for the Hindu minority, drawing comparisons with the crimes committed by Hamas terrorists in Israel.

Just as the globe mobilised against extremist violence in Israel, many people are demanding for prompt action in Bangladesh to prevent similar murders.

The event was live-streamed on stopHinduGenocide.org, where all crimes are meticulously chronicled, along with historical background and the bleak future for Bangladesh’s Hindus until the international community acts.

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–IANS