Washington, D.C.— U.S. lawmakers held an urgent congressional briefing on February 10-11, 2026, warning of escalating human rights violations and violence against religious minorities, particularly Hindus, in Bangladesh. The briefing came just one day before the country's contested national elections scheduled for February 12, 2026, amplifying voices from survivors, journalists, and human rights advocates who described a deepening climate of fear and state-sanctioned violence.
Representative Suhas Subramanyam, who represents Virginia's 10th Congressional District and serves on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, emphasized the critical need for international attention. He stated that the briefing was intended to highlight abuses often unreported in mainstream media, pointing to photographic evidence and accounts of victims displayed during the event.
Key Facts
• The Coalition of Hindus of North America and HinduAction organized the briefing with over 70 attendees, including staffers from congressional offices and diplomatic officials.
• Speakers called for four specific actions: public U.S. condemnation of the violence, congressional hearings, designation of Bangladesh as a Country of Particular Concern, and Magnitsky sanctions against Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus.
• Multiple witnesses, including survivors and human rights advocates, testified that Hindus face coordinated violence, institutional takeover by Islamist groups, and state involvement in targeted attacks during December 2025 and beyond.
Representative Tom Barrett addressed the gathering, linking minority rights advocacy to broader U.S. foreign policy goals and encouraging continued engagement between advocates and lawmakers. The briefing drew particular concern about the upcoming elections, with Representative Subramanyam noting that
Witnesses shared harrowing accounts of persecution under aliases for safety. One survivor, identified as SriRam, described his mother being surrounded by neighbors chanting that Hindus were traitors and should be expelled from Bangladesh.
His brother, a doctor, witnessed his family hospital being taken over by Islamist groups and now faces constant threats.
Human rights advocate Shubho Roy, who was in Dhaka during December 2025, testified about witnessing coordinated violence targeting minorities. Both witnesses warned of imminent demographic erasure, with SriRam stating that
Priya Saha from the South Asian Minorities Collective documented specific cases pointing to state involvement. These included Hindu police officer Santosh Chowdhury, who was handed over by the Bangladesh army to a mob that lynched and burned him, and garment worker Deepu Chandra Das, similarly killed after being handed over by factory management.
Michael Rubin, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, delivered the keynote address and compared the Bangladeshi crisis to situations in Turkey and Iran. He warned that the U.S. risks repeating its mistake with Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi by embracing Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate whose commitment to liberal principles he described as
Former U.S. Senator Samuel Brownback, in a recorded message, highlighted how state-sanctioned violence against minorities threatens population stability and economic prosperity. He cautioned that if Bangladesh continues in its current direction, the country will likely drive out most religious minorities, destabilizing the entire region.
— Sudha Jagannathan, CoHNA Board Member
Speakers framed the ongoing crisis in historical terms. Utsav Chakrabarti of HinduAction warned that the pogrom risks escalating into a full-scale repeat of the 1971 genocide, wherein millions of Hindus were systematically targeted over ten months during Bangladesh's independence war.
He emphasized that Jamaat-e-Islami, the very party that collaborated with Pakistan's army in perpetrating the 1971 genocide, is now positioned to gain influence in Bangladesh's political future.
Rana Hassan Mahmud from the Center for U.S.–Bangladesh Relations warned that Bangladesh is heading toward
S. risks enabling the creation of a new terrorism hub whose repercussions will extend far beyond Bangladesh's borders.
The briefing was part of CoHNA's sustained grassroots campaign across North America to mobilize attention and defend Hindus in Bangladesh. As speakers emphasized, the cost of silence extends beyond South Asia—threatening regional stability, emboldening transnational extremism, and undermining American leadership on human rights and religious freedom.
The February 12 election will be a critical test of democratic norms and whether minority rights can be protected in Bangladesh's political future.
Do You Know?
During December 16, 2025—Victory Day, which commemorates Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971—celebrations were notably absent for the first time in recent memory, signaling the severity of the current climate of fear affecting the broader population, not just minorities.
Key Terms
• Pogrom: Organized violence and persecution targeting a specific ethnic or religious group, often with state involvement or indifference.
• Magnitsky Sanctions: International human rights sanctions allowing countries to freeze assets and ban entry of individuals accused of human rights violations.
• Country of Particular Concern: A U.S. State Department designation for countries with systematic religious freedom violations, affecting aid and trade relationships.
• Jamaat-e-Islami: A major Islamist political party in Bangladesh with historical connections to violence against religious minorities during the 1971 independence war.
Image Credit: By Rayhan9d - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=150228435
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