World
‘Islamophobic, alarmist’: How some India outlets covered Bangladesh crisis
Dhaka, Bangladesh – Within hours of Sheikh Hasina’s removal from power after a student-led mass uprising, reports began to appear in some Indian media outlets that members of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh were being targeted by “Islamist forces”.
Articles and videos containing misleading content emerged across Indian media and social media platforms.
A video on The Times Group-owned Mirror Now’s YouTube channel, titled Attack on Hindus in Bangladesh? Mass Murders, Killings by Mob, shows footage of violence and arson attacks on four houses, two of them have been identified to be owned by Muslims. The title of the video is clearly misleading as there was no mass murders reported in the incident. Local reports say one of the houses belonged to Bangladesh’s freedom icon Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The video also makes unsubstantiated claims, like “24 burnt alive by mob” and “Minorities at the centre of attacks”.
Al Jazeera has independently verified that only two Hindus have been killed since Hasina’s ouster on Monday – one police officer and one activist with Hasina’s Awami League party.
Hindus constitute about 8 percent of Bangladesh’s 170 million people and have traditionally been strong supporters of the Awami League, which is generally viewed as secular compared with the opposition coalition, which includes an Islamist party.
Many news reports of attacks on Hindus contain outlandish claims such as “more than one crore [10 million] refugees are likely to enter West Bengal soon”, which was made in a Times of India report that quoted Suvendu Adhikari, a senior leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The ANI news agency, seen close to Modi’s government, quoted a student leader in India as saying the mass uprising was “orchestrated by the enemies of Bangladesh”.
An even more bizarre Times of India article stated that Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s biggest Islamist party, “brought down Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh”.
Political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman said Indian media have reported through an “Islamophobic” lens.
“The student movement that fomented the mass uprising involving people from all walks of life is unanimously understood as a popular movement here in Bangladesh. But Indian media somehow have been interpreting the whole scenario through their Islamophobic eye,” he told Al Jazeera.
ISI and religious claims
As Hasina fled the country on Monday, news articles in Indian media alleged that Bangladesh’s protests were influenced by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a Pakistani spy agency, because it is seeking to turn Bangladesh into an Islamic state with the support of political parties like the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its former political ally Jamaat-e-Islami.
Some media outlets even urged the Indian government to prepare for a potential refugee crisis, speculating that Hindus would be driven out of Bangladesh.
Speculation suggesting an ISI and Chinese connection to the popular Bangladesh movement was a common thread in social media posts by some commentators and media outlets.
The diplomatic affairs editor of The Economic Times, Dipanjan R Chaudhury, posted on X: “Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh politics doesn’t bode well either for country or India. Jamaat track record of promoting cross border terror … is part of recent history.”
The television channel TV9 Gujarati with one million followers on X characterised the uprising as a “coup”, stating on the social media platform: “Is ISI behind the coup attack in Bangladesh? Is Jamaat-E-Islam behind the violent attacks?”
What is the reality on the ground?
These articles by Indian media and posts in social media contrast sharply with factual reports chronicling the events that led to the Hasina’s resignation. She fled to India, which had backed her.
Local media in Bangladesh reported that since Monday night, several Hindu households across 20 of the country’s 64 districts have been attacked and looted.
Al Jazeera reached out to sources in some of these districts and discovered that the attacks on Hindu households were not driven by religious identity but by political affiliations.
Mustafizur Rahman Hiru, a rent-a-car driver from the central district of Narsingdi, told Al Jazeera that in his village, the two Hindu households targeted were home to local Awami League leaders.
“People were angry because these Hindu leaders were bullying others when the Awami League was in power. Now, with Hasina’s fall, they are facing the backlash,” he said.
In Jashore, a border district with India, a warehouse and home belonging to Babul Saha, a local government chairman who ran for office on the Awami League ticket, were attacked.
Abdur Rab Haider, a resident of Jashore, told Al Jazeera that no Hindu household had been attacked without ties to the Awami League.
Rahman pointed out that Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Hasina’s son, who resides in the United States, has given several interviews to Indian media, spreading rumours and unverified claims about attacks on Hindus and alleged operations by the ISI.
“Indian media merrily jumped onto it and spread Joy’s bogus claims,” Rahman told Al Jazeera.
‘Attacks politically motivated, not communal’
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Gobindra Chandra Pramanik, a leader of the Hindu community in Bangladesh, stated that to his knowledge no Hindu households without connections to the Awami League were attacked.
“As a leader of the Hindu community, I can confirm that these attacks were politically motivated, not communal,” he said. “Across the country, 10 times more Muslim households affiliated with the Awami League were attacked.”
Local media reported that since Monday night, more than 119 people – primarily Awami League leaders, activists and police – were killed in mob violence. Qadaruddin Shishir, the fact-checking editor for the AFP news agency, told Al Jazeera that only two of the victims were Hindus: one policeman and one Awami League activist.
Zafar Sobhan, editor of Bangladesh’s Dhaka Tribune newspaper, told Al Jazeera that most of the Indian media “as a general rule is clueless about Bangladesh”.
“I don’t like to attribute to malice that which just as easily can be explained by incompetence. But the uniformity of the misinformation that is routinely peddled in the Indian media suggests that they are taking dictation from a common source,” he said.
But an Indian academic rejected any allegation that the Indian media’s reporting has been Islamophobic.
Sreeradha Datta, a professor at OP Jindal University in Sonipat in northern India, told Al Jazeera that the Indian media’s concern about the safety of Hindus under a non-Hasina administration in Bangladesh stems from past experiences rather than Islamophobia.
Datta noted that during previous non-Awami League governments, such as the BNP-Jamaat alliance, “there was an increase in attacks on minorities, and this historical context continues to influence current perceptions.”
The media’s reporting has caused concern in India with several prominent Hindu religious leaders and politicians calling for the protection of Hindus.
Muslims protecting Hindus
Meanwhile, images of individuals, including students from Muslim religious schools, standing watch in front of Hindu temples and homes have been widely circulated on social media.
In Brahmanbaria, a district with one of the largest Hindu populations in Bangladesh, residents, including students, stepped up to protect Hindu households.
Munshi Azizul Haque, an apparel businessman from Brahmanbaria, told Al Jazeera that they are working to prevent any communal violence in the area. “We’ve seen how Indian media are depicting attacks on minorities in Bangladesh on social media. The reality is quite different,” he said.
Pramanik also acknowledged that Hindu temples were being protected.
News of Bangladeshi students, including from religious schools, volunteering to protect Hindu temples have been reported locally since the unrest began, and it has been picked up by outlets like Clarion India and The Wire.
These sites ran headlines stating “Muslims Stand Guard at Temples, Call to Protect Minorities” and “Students Stand Guard Outside Temples and Churches in Wake of Attacks.”
Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire, told Al Jazeera that while there is legitimate and genuine concern about reports of attacks on Hindu places of worship, businesses and homes across more than two dozen districts in Bangladesh, the Indian media are also exaggerating the scale and extent of these incidents.
Also, he said, there is a section of the Indian media that is using the Bangladesh situation to boost anti-Muslim rhetoric “in service of the BJP and [its ideological parent] RSS’s agenda.
“For them, the ouster of Hasina is an Islamist conspiracy hatched in collaboration with Pakistan and China and that the target is India and Hindus,” he said.
Naresh Fernandez, editor of the Indian news portal Scroll.in, said Hindutva (right-wing Hindu nationalism) supporters in India are using the situation in Bangladesh “as a screen on which to project their own anxieties, fantasies and conspiracy theories to serve their narrow political purposes”.
“They are claiming that Hasina’s fall was actually engineered by international forces and that this is a rehearsal for a similar regime change to be effected in India,” Fernandez told Al Jazeera.
He said, however, that Hindutva supporters are rightfully concerned about the safety of minorities in Bangladesh in this period of crisis, “a concern that they fail to demonstrate about minorities in India”.
‘Delhi’s intent to destabilise Dhaka’
Political analyst Farid Erkizia Bakht, meanwhile, suggested that misinformation spread by Indian media reflects New Delhi’s intent to destabilise Dhaka. He noted that India has lost its most valuable ally in the subcontinent and is deeply concerned about the direction of the incoming administration.
Varadarajan also echoed the sentiment.
“The popular uprising which unseated Hasina caught New Delhi by surprise, and the government is now scrambling to formulate a coherent and rational policy in the face of the new situation.
“It cannot welcome the student-led protest and bottom-up expression of people power or dismiss the change as a ‘coup’ or an ‘anti-India conspiracy’ either as the Hindutva right wing on social media is saying,” he said.
“For now, New Delhi will be in a wait-and-watch mode. The focus will be on ensuring the safety of Indian nationals in Bangladesh and monitoring the situation of minorities there,” he added.
Bangladeshi activist and author Aupam Debashis Roy told Al Jazeera that there had been attacks on Hindu minorities but the numbers have been overblown and Bangladesh is being portrayed as being taken over by “Islamist forces”, which is not true, he said.
The nature of the soon-to-be-formed interim government will not be “radical Islamist” in nature, Roy said. “But the BJP-leaning media wants to spread the world that Bangladesh is going to be in the hands of Islamists because it supports their [the BJP’s] narrative … built around previous laws like CAA and NRC,” Roy said, referring to India’s citizenship law and national register of citizens, which have been criticised as being directed against Muslims.
“They want to show that Bangladesh is a place for radical Islamists and Hindus and minorities are not safe here. I think that’s why the BJP-leaning Indian media is spreading misinformation about attacks on minorities and an Islamist force taking over Bangladesh,” he added.
US-based Bangladeshi political commentator Shafquat Rabbee Anik said the violence occurring in Bangladesh is a result of the “collapse of the police force,” which is “mostly due to popular reprisal against excesses committed by them throughout the last 15 years”.
Once Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus officially becomes the leader of the interim government, that will calm down “Indian nerves”, Anik predicted.
“For one, it will be very hard to portray Yunus as an Islamist trying to take away the rights of the minorities and women.”
World
Iran continues firing missiles, drones at neighboring states, with multiple interceptions reported
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Iran launched a new wave of attacks on Thursday, with explosions reported in the region and Tehran threatening that the U.S. would “bitterly regret” sinking an Iranian warship.
Iran’s strikes on Thursday targeted Israel, American bases and countries in the region. Israel announced multiple incoming missile attacks as air raid sirens blared in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense on Thursday said Iran used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in an attack on Nakhchivan International Airport and other civilian infrastructure. The ministry said the details of the attack and the capabilities of the UAVs were being investigated.
“The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan strongly condemns the attacks carried out by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran against civilian infrastructure on the territory of Azerbaijan in the absence of any military necessity. The Islamic Republic of Iran bears the entire responsibility for the incident,” the ministry’s statement read.
Explosions seen and heard in Azerbaijan as Iran launches retaliatory attacks across the Middle East. (East2West)
Iran has not acknowledged targeting Azerbaijan, despite the country’s ministry of defense pointing the finger at Tehran.
Qatar evacuated residents near the U.S. Embassy in Doha on Thursday, with its Ministry of Defense confirming that the country was “subjected to a missile attack” and that its air defense systems were able to intercept it. The ministry urged the public to remain calm and avoid unofficial information.
Abu Dhabi announced that its authorities were responding to an incident involving falling debris in ICAD 2, which is part of the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi. Six people, identified by Abu Dhabi as Pakistani and Nepali nationals, suffered minor to moderate injuries.
A plume of smoke rises over buildings in Doha, Qatar, on March 5, 2026. (Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images)
FORMER TOPGUN PILOT DECLARES IRAN MILITARY ‘OVER WITH’ AMID US AIR SUPERIORITY, BUT WARNS OF ANOTHER DANGER
Iran has carried out retaliatory strikes since the launch of Operation Epic Fury, with the latest wave coming one day after the U.S. sunk an Iranian warship, killing at least 87 Iranian sailors. Sri Lankan navy spokesman Cmdr. Buddhika Sampath said 32 people were rescued from the wreck and were admitted to a hospital.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth defended the move during a news briefing at the Pentagon.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo — Quiet Death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department, we are fighting to win,” Hegseth said.
Missile interceptions are seen in the sky on March 5, 2026, in Central Israel. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
ISRAEL’S MILITARY RELEASES VIDEO SHOWING OBLITERATION OF IRAN’S MISSILE LAUNCHERS, DEFENSE SYSTEMS
Iranian leaders condemned the attack, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accusing the U.S. Navy of committing “an atrocity at sea.” Meanwhile, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli appeared on state television and called for the shedding of Israeli and “Trump’s blood.”
“Fight the oppressive America, his blood is on my shoulders,” he said in a rare call for violence from an ayatollah, one of the highest ranks within the clergy of Shiite Islam.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The U.S. and Israel launched the war on Saturday with strikes targeting Iran’s leadership, including the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed. Iran’s missile arsenal and nuclear facilities were also hit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related Article
Iran has launched operations targeting Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in neighbouring Iraq as the regional war ignited by the United States and Israel entered its sixth day, with more than 1,000 people killed across the country.
State television, Press TV, reported early on Thursday that Tehran was striking “anti-Iran separatist forces”, referring to Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups believed to be based in mountainous, hard-to-reach areas near the Iran-Iraq border.
list of 4 itemsend of listRecommended Stories
Iranian missiles hit Sulaimaniyah city in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, according to local reports.
“We targeted the headquarters of Kurdish groups opposed to the revolution in Iraqi Kurdistan with three missiles,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday, quoting a military statement. The Iranian military said earlier on Tuesday it used “30 drones” on Kurdish positions.
The attack comes just days after multiple publications reported that US President Donald Trump was in active talks with Iranian and Iraqi Kurdish groups, and that Washington hopes to use them to spur a popular uprising.
Various Iranian Kurdish groups, which share close ties with Iraqi Kurds, have long opposed Tehran from their bases in northern Iraq and along the Iraq-Iran border. These groups reportedly have thousands of fighters between them.
Here’s what we know so far:
Why are Kurdish groups cooperating with the US?
US officials said the aim is to stretch Iranian forces and take out the remains of the military-dominated Iranian government, according to reporting by CNN.
There is also speculation that the groups could be supported to take control of northern Iran to create a ground buffer for Israeli forces, possibly streaming in from Iraq.
US-Israeli bombings have heavily targeted areas along the Iraq-Iran border since the start of the war on Saturday, possibly to degrade Iranian defences and allow Kurdish opposition groups to cross fully into Iran, according to a briefing by US-based think tank, the Soufan Center.
The US has not ruled out sending ground forces, although analysts told Al Jazeera Iran’s rugged territory would make that very difficult.
If the US does support these groups against Tehran, it would mean that Washington is treating them like armed “players on a board,” Winthrop Rodgers, associate fellow at the UK think tank, Chatham House, told Al Jazeera.
Which Kurdish groups are there?
Neither the US nor Kurdish groups had confirmed any agreements by Thursday.
However, it is known that Trump has spoken to the leaders of two Kurdish groups in Iraq: Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and Bafel Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), according to US publication, Axios. Talabani confirmed the call on Wednesday.
Trump also spoke to Mustafa Hijri, head of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), on Tuesday, CNN reported, quoting a Kurdish official.
Meanwhile, Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, which have thousands of fighters along the Iraq-Iran border, formed the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan (CPFIK) alliance one week before the war broke out.
The group issued statements at the start of the conflict, signalling imminent intervention and urging Iranian military members to defect. According to Israel’s I24News, thousands of its fighters were in Iran by Wednesday.
Here are the different groups:
Kurdistan Democratic Party: The ruling party in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The party controls the capital city of Erbil as well as Duhok. It has historical ties with Iranian Kurdish groups.
However, the KRG is not eager to be seen as supporting attacks on Iran, even as Iranian drones have hit US assets in Erbil. On Wednesday, Kurdistan region President Nechirvan Barzani spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and told him his region “will not be part of conflicts” targeting Tehran.
In 2023, the two countries signed a security deal that saw Iraq promise to disarm and relocate Iranian opposition groups on its territory, although it appears many groups are still based there, reflecting the limited influence the government wields over them.
Iraqi Kurds, who have close ties with both the US and Iran, are in a “difficult position”, said Rodgers.
“They are under tremendous pressure from a wide range of forces, including (pro-Iran) Iraqi militias. They will try to stay out of the conflict as much as they can, but that will likely prove impossible,” he said.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK): The PUK is the official opposition in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region and also nationally relevant as Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid is a member. In a statement on Sunday, Rashid urged dialogue and an end to the war. Iraq declared three days of mourning following the killing of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes on Tehran on Saturday.
Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan (CPFIK): Formed on February 22, 2026, the group includes six Iranian Kurdish opposition groups seeking an independent state.
Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) – Based in the Kurdistan region, the group has about 1,200 members and is proscribed as a “terror” group by Iran.
Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) – Also based in Kurdistan, it has an estimated 1,000 members.
Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) – A close ally of the Turkish opposition armed group, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), PJAK is proscribed as a “terror” group by Ankara. PJAK’s armed wing, the Eastern Kurdistan Units (YRK), is believed to have between 1,000 and 3,000 members, many of them women. It is based in the rugged Qandil Mountains near the Iran-Iraq border and in the semiautonomous Kurdistan region. It has launched numerous attacks on Iranian forces in the past decade. A recent Iranian strike reportedly killed one fighter.
Organisation of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle (Khabat) – It has an unknown number of fighters.
Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan – Based in Iraq’s KRG, it has an unknown number of fighters.
Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KPIK) – Also headquartered in the Kurdistan region, it has an estimated 1,000 fighters in 2017.
What is the history of US involvement with Kurdish resistance groups in the Middle East?
Kurds are an ethnic minority spread across the Middle East with a shared language and culture. They do not have a state of their own and have historically been marginalised across countries – mainly Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkiye.
For decades, several armed Kurdish groups have sought self-governance in Turkiye, Syria and Iran.
In Iraq, Kurdish nationalist groups gained some success during the 1991 Gulf War by working with the US, which helped establish the self-governing Kurdistan region of Iraq. The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also trained and armed its army, known as the Peshmerga, after the US invaded Iraq in 2003. In 2005, the semiautonomous region was officially recognised in Iraq’s constitution.
Since 2017, Washington has also armed and trained the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkiye lists as a “terror” group because of its links with the proscribed PKK. The group, which successfully resisted ISIL (ISIS), now forms the main component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). It controlled Raqqa and other ISIL strongholds.
However, when it began military clashes with Syrian forces under the President Ahmed al-Sharaa-led government last August, Washington turned away from the group and backed Damascus instead. In January this year, the SDF signed an agreement with the Syrian government to integrate into the government forces. In return, the Syrian government recognised Kurdish rights.
In Turkiye, meanwhile, the PKK, whose presence in northern Iraq has long been a source of tension with Ankara, declared a ceasefire in March 2025, after a call from its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, to disarm.
How does Kurdish resistance in Iran compare with others?
Iranian Kurds opposed the Iranian government even before the formation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Rodgers said, and Tehran’s current weakness provides an opportunity for them to advance their political aims in the country.
However, the new coalition of multiple diverse groups is unprecedented, the analyst added, and their internal dynamics will be a key decisive factor in what role Kurdish groups will play in this war.
“Support from the US is helpful, especially in terms of targeting security forces’ infrastructure with air strikes, but they will likely be cautious about relying too much on Washington, especially from an administration as capricious and disorganised as Trump’s,” Rodgers said, noting how Washington abandoned the Kurds in Syria.
Unlike the split Iranian movements, Iraqi Kurds have long united to form a devolved government enshrined in the Iraqi constitution, built an advanced economy, and secured substantive relations with a wide range of foreign countries. That’s something Kurdish groups will also be hoping to establish in a democratic Iran, he said.
“I think it is unlikely that the Trump administration has made any commitments to the Iranian Kurds about supporting their political goals,” Rodgers said, adding that the US’s plan “does not look fully thought through at all”.
Delaware Officials Highlight DTRN360, Innovative Behavioral Health Care Coordination Platform – State of Delaware News
Florida college Republicans group chat reveals racist texts: ‘Avoid the coloreds like the plague’
Amid tariff and trade confusion, Georgia posted record exports in 2025
Kay’s Crackseed: The Manoa shop preserving Hawaii’s favorite childhood snack
Idaho lawmakers introduce bill to phase out state funding for Hispanic Affairs commission
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Map: 4.9-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Louisiana
Paxton vows he’s ‘staying in this race’ even if Trump backs Cornyn in Texas GOP clash
Which Kurdish groups is the US rallying to fight Iran?
Man accused of plot to assassinate Trump testifies Iran pressured him, says Biden and Haley were other possible targets
DHS defends McLaughlin against allegations husband’s company profited millions from ad contracts: ‘Baseless’
-
World1 week agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts1 week agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Wisconsin4 days agoSetting sail on iceboats across a frozen lake in Wisconsin
-
Maryland5 days agoAM showers Sunday in Maryland
-
Florida5 days agoFlorida man rescued after being stuck in shoulder-deep mud for days
-
Massachusetts3 days agoMassachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
-
Denver, CO1 week ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Oregon6 days ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling