South Asia State of Minorities Report 2019 should an agreement be reached. The process has raised concerns among women and minority groups given the Taliban’s well-known maltreatment of women and minorities. Both representatives of women and members of minority groups have asked the governments of Afghanistan and the US to ensure that the process is inclusive, that their concerns are addressed, and that the post-Taliban gains in terms of human rights and democracy are consolidated. Bangladesh Several incidents of violence against minority communities took place all over the country. There has been a similar pattern to many such episodes—hacking the Facebook ID of a minority person and posting images or messages hurting religious sentiments, the post going viral, the resultant outrage on social media and streets, which finally ends in attacks on minority communities. One such instance in October 2019 took place in Bhola District of Southern Bangladesh, leaving four killed. The clash between the police and religious bigots in Bhola, following social media propaganda, could be seen as a consequence of the administration and police’s failure in previous incidents. The Ahmadiya community also experienced scattered violence in different places of the country. In February 2019, Ahmadiyas in Panchgarh District came under attack when they were arranging a Jalsha (the annual conference of the Ahmadiya Muslim Jamat) when supporters of three Islamist organisations urged the government to prohibit the conference as well as declare Ahmadiyas as nonMuslim. Tensions over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in neighbouring Indian state of Assam could also be felt in Bangladesh, but apart from some demonstrations by Islamist organisations, no major incident was reported. However, after the adoption of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 in India, the border areas saw increased activity with hundreds arrested on charges of cross-border trespassing. Although the arrestees claimed to be Bangladeshis, they had no documentary evidence to back their claim. It is feared that this ingress into Bangladesh by people claiming persecution in India can have a detrimental effect on Bangladesh’s religious minorities, especially Hindus. xlvi