The Disappearing Hindus: A Tragic Legacy of Religious Persecution
Since the partition of India in 1947, an estimated 49 million Hindus have vanished from the Indian subcontinent due to Islamic persecution, violence, and systemic oppression. Census data over the decades reveals a disturbing trend: the Hindu population, along with other indigenous minority groups, has been systematically erased.
Dr. Shachi Ghosh Dastidar’s Groundbreaking Research
In his book “Indian Subcontinent’s Vanishing Hindu and Other Minorities: Empire’s Last Casualty,” Dr. Shachi Ghosh Dastidar exposes how religious hatred has destroyed Hindu and tribal communities in a region once known for peaceful coexistence. The book details the brutal displacement and killings of Hindus from their ancestral lands after the British colonial division of India.
The partition disproportionately affected Hindus and other non-Muslim minorities, including Buddhists and Christians. The very fabric of multicultural harmony and indigenous traditions was shattered.
From Partition to Persecution
In 1905, Bengal was divided into Muslim-majority East Bengal and Hindu-majority West Bengal. After 1947, East Bengal became part of Islamic Pakistan, leading to state-sponsored violence against Hindus and other minorities. Thousands fled to India to escape religious persecution.
In 1971, after a bloody nine-month war, Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation—the world’s second-largest Muslim country. However, Pakistani and Saudi media framed the Liberation War as a “Muslim vs. Hindu” conflict, with local collaborators (Razakars, Al-Badr) branding Hindus as the primary enemy.
The Alarming Decline of Hindus in Bangladesh
Dr. Dastidar’s research reveals that 49 million Hindus have disappeared from Bangladesh between 1947 and 2018—a number exceeding the population of many countries. Shockingly, 3.1 million Hindus vanished between 2001-2006 alone under the BNP-Jamaat coalition’s Islamization policies (World Bank data).
Despite this silent genocide, the world remains largely unaware. The rivers of Bangladesh have washed away the bloodstains, but Dr. Dastidar’s work ensures the truth is preserved.
A History of Massacres and Oppression
Centuries ago, Hindu civilization thrived from Afghanistan to Indonesia. Today, their presence has been wiped out from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and significantly reduced in Bangladesh.
- 711 AD: Arab invaders led by Muhammad bin Qasim attacked Sindh, marking the beginning of Islamic conquest.
- 1947: Pakistan declared itself an Islamic Republic, enforcing religious discrimination.
- 1971: Bangladesh was born, but secular ideals soon gave way to rising Islamic nationalism.
The Ongoing Crisis
In both Pakistan and Bangladesh, Hindus and other minorities face discrimination, violence, and forced displacement solely because of their faith.
- Pakistan: Hindus declined from 24% in 1947 to less than 2% today.
- Bangladesh: Hindus dropped from 31% in 1947 to just 8% now. Economist Abul Barakat warns that Bangladesh may have zero Hindus in 50 years.
In stark contrast, the Muslim population in India has grown at a significantly higher rate since 1947 compared to the Hindu population in Pakistan and Bangladesh. In both Bangladesh and Pakistan, minority Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists have faced communal riots, forced evictions, systematic killings, and coerced conversions—yet these atrocities rarely make headlines. Whether these crimes occur in broad daylight or under the cover of darkness, the state machinery remains a silent spectator, offering no protection or justice. There is no outcry, no accountability.
Neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh has ever been held responsible for the near-total disappearance of their Hindu populations. Hindus in these countries live under constant threat to their lives, livelihoods, and properties. Countless temples have been forcibly converted into mosques or destroyed. Land grabs, looting of Hindu businesses, systemic discrimination, murders, sexual violence against Hindu women, and abductions of young Hindu girls are daily occurrences.
During the 1971 Liberation War, Hindus in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were targeted in a genocidal campaign by the Pakistani military and their local collaborators. Reports indicate that nearly two million Hindus were massacred. Countless Hindu women were abducted and raped. Dr. Sachi Ghosh Dastidar’s book Empire’s Last Casualty: Indian Subcontinent’s Vanishing Hindu and Other Minorities reveals that since the Partition in 1947, an estimated three million Hindus have been killed in Bangladesh alone as part of an Islamization campaign. The world remains oblivious to this silent genocide. Even today, Hindus in Bangladesh face relentless violence—silent massacres, terrorist attacks, and brutal persecution. Hindu judges, professionals, teachers, lawyers, and government officials are systematically targeted to suppress any dissent. Human rights organizations like Amnesty International turn a blind eye to this ethnic cleansing.
Forced Conversions and Abductions
Post-Partition, the abduction and forced marriage of Hindu girls surged alarmingly in Pakistan and Bangladesh. While mainstream media in these countries occasionally report such cases, Indian media remains shockingly silent. One horrific example illustrates the scale of this tragedy:
In 2005, Pakistan’s leading English daily Dawn reported that 19 Hindu girls had gone missing from Karachi’s Punjab Colony. Their families realized they had been abducted and forcibly converted. In another case, three Hindu girls—Reena, Usha, and Reema—disappeared in October 2005. Days later, their families received couriered letters declaring that the girls had converted to Islam and would no longer return. Their father lamented, “We just sat staring at each other—our lives ended right there.” Such despair could befall any Hindu family in Pakistan or Bangladesh at any moment.
Abductions and Killings
In recent months, thousands of Hindu families have fled Bangladesh, seeking refuge in India to escape violence. Abductions, enforced disappearances, property seizures, and forced conversions continue unabated under state complicity. Many abductions are for ransom.
For instance, Pakistani filmmaker Satish Anand was kidnapped in Karachi, and his family had to pay a hefty ransom for his release. In April 2009, the Sikh community in Pakistan’s Khyber region was forced to pay 50 million rupees as jizya (a tax on non-Muslims). Those who couldn’t pay saw their homes looted and burned. Many Hindus converted to escape this extortion. The jizya tax, a historical Islamic imposition, was enforced by Muhammad bin Qasim after conquering Sindh, stripping non-Muslims of religious freedom and burdening them with oppressive taxes.
Systemic Discrimination and Land Grabs
Discrimination against Hindus is state-sanctioned in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Constitutionally, no non-Muslim can become head of state. In 1965, Pakistan enacted the notorious Enemy Property Act, seizing properties of Hindus who migrated to India. After Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, the law was renamed the Vested Property Act, but its oppressive enforcement continued. The state became the legal owner of Hindu properties, redistributing them to Muslims. Millions of acres of Hindu-owned land and ancestral homes were stolen under this law.
Seeking Freedom, Facing Death
Alarmed by escalating violence, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan’s Liaquat Ali Khan signed a pact in 1950, pledging to protect religious minorities. Yet, persecution only worsened in East and West Pakistan. In independent Bangladesh, the oppression reached new heights. India, however, remained disturbingly silent.
India had a moral and legal obligation to enforce the Nehru-Liaquat Pact and uphold the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It should have pressured Bangladesh to return confiscated Hindu properties through bilateral talks. The UN Human Rights Commission must intervene—this ongoing persecution blatantly violates international law.
The Hypocrisy of Silence
While Pakistan and Bangladesh continue their brutal campaigns against Hindus, India’s mainstream media ignores these horrors. Even within India, crimes against Hindus are downplayed in the name of “secularism.” If a Hindu girl is raped by a Muslim man, the news is buried; but if a Muslim girl is victimized, it becomes a national outrage.
Is Indian law only meant to protect religious extremists and oppressors? Are fundamental human rights reserved only for some? Will India ever stand up for the Hindus of the subcontinent?
The unfinished genocide of minorities under Islamist jihad continues. The land that once birthed philosophy and spirituality is now disappearing under the shadow of Islamic extremism. The world watches in silence.
Sources:
• 49 Million Hindus Missing From Bangladesh Census due to Islamic atrocities :: Vanishing Hindu and other India root minorities from Indian subcontinent.
• Poliitical Economy of Khas Land in Bangladesh by Abul Barakat
Writer: Bikash Majumder
Human Rights Activist & Social Worker
New York, USA
Date: March 28, 2025
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