The VHP has sought the formation of an international inquiry commission to probe the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Saturday wrote to the heads of the United Nations, the UN High Commission for Human Rights and the European Union, calling on them to take note of the recent attacks on the Hindu community in Bangladesh.

In his letters to the three prominent world bodies, the joint general secretary and the head of international affairs of VHP, Swami Vigyananand, has urged them to setup an international inquiry commission and send a fact-finding mission to Bangladesh, and pressurise the government to ensure security, justice and compensation to the victims of the violence.

"The current spate of the genocide of the indigenous minority Hindus in Bangladesh, which continues unabated. The brutal killings of innocents, in more than 22 districts over the past 10-12 days, violate any notion of humanity. The radical Islamists caused despair and terror among devotees by forcibly entering places of worship during the sacred Durga Puja and jubilantly vandalizing and breaking icons of deities and destroying shrines. A dozen Hindus were slaughtered, a thousand injured. Horrifyingly, Hindu women and small girls were raped in front of family members and homes and businesses were looted and burnt as well. The police and law enforcement authorities were mute spectators, intervening too late to prevent the atrocities," Swami Vigyananand said in a statement.

In the letter, he has also demanded that the UNSC should take action to proscribe criminal organisations “engaged in Jihadi violence and challenging the legitimacy of the elected government of Bangladesh”.

He further added, “Urge the government of Bangladesh to repeal the Vested Property Act - 2013, which is the critical underlying incitement to violence since property abandoned by the fleeing can be legally seized by their own neighbours.”

According to official data, at least three persons were killed in violence that broke out after a copy of the Quran was found at the Nanua Dighir Par Durga Puja pandal in Comilla. The incident had caused widespread violence as communal tension gripped Bangladesh.

Apart from Comilla, incidents of violence were also reported from temples in Chandpur’s Hajiganj, Chattogram’s Banshkhali, Cox’s Bazar's Pekua and Rangpur's Pirganj.

The police in Comilla have filed four cases and made 41 arrests in connection with the violence that broke out at a Durga Puja pandal.