Print Edition
Monday, 01 October 2012
Dhaka, Sept 30: After an overnight ransacking and torching of Buddhist villages in Cox’s Bazaar’s Ramu on the southestern tip of the country, miscreants today attacked two Hindu temples and a Buddhist monastery in Potiya in the same region today. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, now in New York, has warned against acts that damage “social harmony” in Bangladesh in the wake of overnight mayhem in the southeastern hilly town of Ramu.In a statement communicated to bdnews24.com by Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the UN, she said she was shocked at the developments, being updated and would do anything at her disposal to stop acts of violence against religious minorities.
Ambassador Dr Abdul Momen said she had been talking to relevant senior officials and instructed all steps necessary to bring the culprits to book.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Cox’s Bazar Jasim Uddin said Section 144 was imposed at Ramu banning all sort of gatherings in the area for an indefinite period from Sunday morning to control the situation.
A large number of police, Border Guard Bangladesh and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) members were deployed in the area.
Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir and Industries Minister Dilip Barua visited the site of the hate attack, officials of the local administration said.
Agitating Muslims torched 30 homes of the Buddhist community and vandalised six pagodas as a sectarian violence broke out at Merunloa village in Ramu sub-district in south-eastern tourist district of Cox’s Bazar Saturday night.
The strife later spread to nearby Patiya where Buddhist and Hindu temples were attacked.
Officer-in-charge (OC) of Ramu police station Nazibul Alam said the clash continued in the area from 11:15 pm to 2:30 am Sunday after a youth reportedly posted a photograph disgracing the holy Quran on the wall of his facebook.
Local administration has imposed section 144 (ban on assembly of five persons at a place) in and around Merunloa village in the sub-district from 10 am for an indefinite period on Sunday.
Apprehending escalation of the sectarian violence, Sub-district Executive Officer Debi Chando slapped the ban as tension heightened in the area.
Earlier, dozens of Muslims stormed the houses of Buddhists at Baruapara in the sub-district headquarters after they came to know about the photograph reportedly posted by Uttam Kumar Barua, 24.
Police took Uttam Kumar, a resident of Baruapara, into custody in an effort to quell the situation.
Member of Parliament of Cox’s Bazar constituency -3 Lutfar Rahman Kazal, Ramu sub-district council chairman Sohel Sarwar Kazal and Ramu police station officer-in-charge along with several platoons of police cordoned off Baruapara and were trying to pacify the Muslims who were vandalising, torching and looting the houses of Baruas (local terms for Buddhists) in retaliation for posting the blasphemous picture on the facebook of Uttam Kumar Barua, also an assistant deed writer.
At least four people were injured in the midnight mayhem, he said adding that the Buddhists got panicked and were leaving their houses for safer places.
Many Buddhist men and women along with their children have taken shelter either in and around the police station and its outpost or neighbouring houses to escape the wraths of Muslims.
Sunil Barua, 40, a businessman and resident of Baruapara, told this correspondent over cell phone, “I left my house with my wife and children as angry Muslims stormed into my house with sticks and machetes, and started ransacking it. They also tried to torch it.”
He along with his panic-stricken wife and children took shelter in the house of another Muslim man who is known to him. Police said, additional police have been called in from Cox‘s Bazaar town and other parts of the district to keep the situation control.
“Today’s attacks took place between noon and 1:30pm,” Acting Officer-in-Charge of the Patiya Police Station Aminur Rashid told newsmen.
The police officer said the attackers had carried out the attacks alleging defamation of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH).
He said two Hindu temples and two Buddhist monasteries were damaged in the attacks.
According to the accounts of local journalists, several hundred fanatics took out a procession and launched attacks on the Lakhara Abhoy Buddhist Viahar at around noon and set it on fire.
They also attacked the Kolagaon Nobarun Sangha Durga Mandir (temple) and the Moitri Mandir at Jele Para, they said.
The attackers reportedly smashed an ancient Buddhist statue at the Rotnangkur Buddhist Vihara and set fire to a statue of Goddess Durga at the Nobarun Sangha Mandir.
The OC said the situation was calm. “Additional police forces and members of the RAB have been deployed at the scene to avert further tension,” he added.
Local MP Shamsul Hoque Chowdhury visited the place of occurrence.
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