Your Right To Know
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Staff Correspondent
Speakers at a discussion yesterday strongly criticised law enforcement agencies and administration for, what they said, playing a silent role and even instigating the September 29 attack on the Buddhist community in Cox's Bazar's Ramu.
They also condemned the remanding of Madhu Barua and Aadi Barua by police, stating that this was what Jamaat-e-Islami was hoping for.
Madhu is the mother and Aadi is the aunt of Uttam Kumar Barua, whose Facebook account was falsely used to launch anti-Buddhist propaganda that triggered the violence.
The discussion, “Jamaat's link with militants and trial of war criminals”, was organised by Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee in the capital's WVA Auditorium.
If punitive action is not taken against Cox's Bazar's superintendent of police and deputy commissioner, such mayhem might be repeated in other parts of the country, they said.
“Law enforcers will forcibly take confessional statements from them (Madhu and Aadi),” said the committee's acting president Shahriar Kabir.
Claiming that agents of Jamaat were active in the administration, he said, “How can we expect an impartial investigation.”
Around 17 militant and fundamentalist organisations are active in the Bangladesh-Myanmar border while some non-government organisations are patronising them, claimed Kabir.
Addressing the function, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said Jamaat has connections with armed activities, militancy and international terrorism and the government primarily found proof of Jamaat's link with the attack.
Voice should be raised demanding a ban on Jamaat's politics and bringing the party under war crimes trial as an organisation, he said.
International Crimes Tribunal Prosecutor Advocate Rana Dasgupta said the fundamentalist force has been launching attacks on households and temples of minority communities as part of their conspiracy to foil the war crimes trial.
“We are trying to provide some results of the trial process by next December,” he said.
State Minister for Liberation War Affairs AB Tajul Islam, academician Prof Muntasir Mamun and cultural personality Kamal Lohani also spoke at the discussion.
Meanwhile, female leaders of Sector Commanders' Forum, Liberation War-'71; Rajshahi University teachers; and Khulna's artists condemned the attack and demanded exemplary punishment for the perpetrators.
The seven female leaders, in a statement, expressed deep concern over the destruction of the over 300-year-old invaluable and ancient sculptures in Ramu.
The teachers, at a human chain in the university, urged people to strengthen communal harmony among all communities in Ramu and the country.
The artists formed a human chain at Picture Palace Intersection in Khulna city where they demanded exemplary punishment for the perpetrators.
BNP on Tuesday shared the findings of a probe it carried out into the violence against Buddhist community in Ramu of Cox's Bazar with diplomats from 12 countries.
The party sources said a 68-page summery of the probe report and a relevant CD were handed over to the diplomats in a meeting held in a city hotel in Gulshan area.
The diplomats include high commissioners and ambassadors of UK, Turkey, France, Singapore, Norway and Australia.
The others are officials from US, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland and China diplomatic missions in Dhaka.
The BNP leaders attending the meeting include Moudud Ahmed, who headed the probe into the violence that left 18 temples and 50 houses of the Buddhist community damaged on the night of September 29.
No 'Fanush' this year: Buddhists
Chittagong, Oct 15 (bdnews24.com) – 'Fanush' (hot-air balloons) will not be set afloat this year during the Prabarana Purnima celebrations, as the Buddhists decides to skip the ritual from their second largest religious festival, protesting the communal attack on their community in Cox's Bazar and Chittagong.
bdnews24.com/us/su/rn/nir/1708h
Mon, Oct 15th, 2012 5:18 pm
Chittagong, Oct 15 (bdnews24.com) – 'Fanush' (hot-air balloons) will not be set afloat this year during the Prabarana Purnima celebrations, as the Buddhists decides to skip the ritual from their second largest religious festival, protesting the communal attack on their community in Cox's Bazar and Chittagong.
"To protest the barbaric attacks on and arson of Buddhist monasteries and settlements, Buddhists in Bangladesh will refrain from setting afloat 'Fanushes' during the Prabarana Purnima celebrations," Bangladesh Combined Buddhist Council chief Ajit Ranjan Barua said at a press meet in Chittagong on Monday after finishing his tour of the affected areas.
Besides skipping the hot-air balloons, one of the key attractions of the festival, the Buddhist Community will also be toning down the celebrations of the two-day Kothin Chibor Dan festival and will scrap all cultural programmes.
"The establishments that portrayed the heritage of Ramu's century-old civilisation and culture have been destroyed due to the inaction of the administration to prevent the incident in time. Miscreants destroyed the monasteries and Buddha sculptures and escaped from right under the administration's nose," Barua continued reading out from a written statement.
Enraged reportedly over a Facebook post denigrating the Quran, religious zealots attacked Buddhist temples, monasteries, residences and shops in Cox's Bazar's Ramu upazila on Sept 29.
They vandalised, looted and set them on fire. The communal attacks spread the next day with similar occurrences taking place in Chittagong's Patia and Cox's Bazar's Ukhia and Teknaf.
Claiming that the Buddhist community in Bangladesh was still living in fear, Barua placed an eight-point charter of demands to the government.
They include keeping police, RAB and BGB personnel deployed at all Buddhist monasteries in the country, and estimate the damages to those attacked and restore them. The demands also included punishment to the then Ramu Police Station's Officer in Charge if direct or indirect links are found between him and the incident.
The Buddhist community also demanded withdrawal of his replacement, who according to them is also another 'dubious' character.
The demands also include punishment to those responsible and organising an all-party peace conference in Ramu to bridge the divide between Buddhists and Muslims.
Meanwhile, Buddhist religious leader Dr Bikiran Prasad Barua, responding to queries about the possible intentions of attack, said, "The attack was carried out only on Buddhist establishments, not on any Buddhist Bhikkhu's or person."
He added the attack was premeditated and that the eyewitness knew many of the attackers, but were not naming them to avoid hassles.
When questioned about BNP's probe report, the religious leader said, "This is a political matter, we don't want to comment on it."
Staff Correspondent
Japan Bangladesh Friendship Hospital will arrange a two-day long medical camp at Ramu in Cox's Bazar to provide free medical support to the victims of September 29 violence.
An emergency medical response team of the hospital will provide medical assistance on October 18 and October 19.
Japan Bangladesh Friendship Hospital Chairman Prof Dr Jonaid Shafiq and Managing Director Prof Dr Sarder Nayeem will lead the team.
The team comprising of 20 doctors, nurses, and pharmacists will leave for Ramu on October 17 to give free treatment there.
The hospital also opened a booth at its headquarters for financial donations to help Ramu victims.
The Daily Star
No comments:
Post a Comment