Insecurity grips minority groups in Bangladesh

The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion has visited Bangladesh to look into the recent murders of four writers who had been labelled atheists by conservative religious groups.

But atheists are not the only minority group in Bangladesh facing problems.

In Tangail, a 120-year-old Hindu temple was burned down at this site. Worshippers now keep a close watch on the new one.

In 1971, 21 percent of the population was Hindu; now it is only nine percent. “These kinds of attacks are a way to drive us out of the country,” one Hindu resident told Al Jazeera.

Human rights activists have criticised the country’s police for what they say is their slow handling of the murder investigations.

Al Jazeera’s Maher Sattar reports from Tangail and Dhaka.