Budhhist temples torched, houses burnt in Ramu

Star Online Report

Mobs vandalised and set ablaze at least 50 Buddist households and nine temples and monasteries in Ramu upazila of Cox's Bazar late Saturday following posting of an alleged defamation of the Qur’an on a facebook account belonging to a local Buddhist person.

Selim Md Jahangir, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Cox’s Bazar said that three of the temples were totally gutted.

The owner of the facebook account Uttom Kumar Barua, son of one Supto Barua of Baruapara in the upazila told The Daily Star that the photo was mistakenly tagged on his profile. Soon after the violence broke out, Barua’s facebook account was closed and police escorted him and his mother to safety, said the SP.

Police and witnesses said, after news spread about the defaming picture on facebook, hundreds of people thronged to Chowmuhani area of Ramu and staged demonstration in protest around 10:00pm.

In a bid to control the situation, police from Ramu upazila tried to cordon the area off but were soon outnumbered and pushed back.

Around 11:00pm, riot police and Rab arrived on the spot but by then hundreds of people set ablaze Buddhist households in Baruapara of the upazila that kept burning until around 2:00am.

Police and witnesses said, around 12:30 am, a mob torched a 250-year old Buddhist temple on Cheranghata road and then set ablaze Borokang Boddho Bihar and Kendriyo Shima Bihar. Angry mob also vandalised Baruapara Buddhist temple at Srikul in Ramu.

Buddhist people started to flee their homes as the fire services failed to reach the spot amid increasing violence around 1:00am.

With the help of police, the fire services managed to douse the blaze around 2:30am but the temples and the houses were already gutted by then.

Around 3:30am, BGB, Rab and police managed to quell the violence and take control of the situation with the help of the eminent local persons including the lawmaker Lutfur Rahman Kajal, Ramu upazila parishad chairman Sohel Sarwar Kajal.

Till Sunday morning, police were not able to confirm the number of injured persons as most Buddhist people have been in hiding since Saturday night.

Since Sunday morning army, BGB, Rab and police are guarding all the 27 temples in Ramu while police forces have been deployed in all other areas where the violence broke out.

Around 11:15am on Sunday morning, a correspondent from Cox’s Bazar reported that Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir has just arrived in Ramu. 

The Daily Star News Paper

Sunday, September 30, 2012