Ramu Attacks MKA sees foreign link Another suspect arrested

Your Right To Know
Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Staff Correspondent

Foreign instigation was to blame for the September 29 attacks on Buddhists in Ramu upazila of Cox's Bazar, said Home Minister MK Alamgir yesterday

People doing communal politics in the country were involved in the attacks, the minister told journalists at his office in the afternoon after a meeting with United Nations Resident Coordinator Neal Walker.

The additional divisional commissioner of Chittagong submitted a probe report on the Ramu violence to the minister on Thursday with 11 recommendations.

The minister said, “The culprits have been identified and, according to the report, the motive behind the attacks was to create instability in the country.”

He, however, did not disclose the names of the culprits. Nor did he detail the recommendations.

He said Neal Walker at the meeting expressed satisfaction over the Bangladesh government's steps taken just after the incidents.

During the September 29 attacks, 18 pagodas and about 50 Buddhist houses were torched or vandalised by Muslim fanatics. The violence was instigated by a faked Facebook page that showed an anti-Islam photograph tagged on a Buddhist youth's account.

The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord was also discussed at the meeting, the minister said.

The issue of complications regarding land ownership in the Chittagong Hill Tracts may be addressed by reforming the land commission, he added.

ANOTHER HELD FOR ATTACK LINK
Police arrested yet another person on Monday night for his alleged involvement with the Ramu mayhem in Cox's Bazar on September 29.

Saleh Ahmed, 34, was arrested from a barbershop from the town's Lal Dighirpar around 10:00pm, reports our staff correspondent from Chittagong.

The arrestee has connection with Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) and had provided shelter to Rohingyas on several occasions, said Jashim Uddin, officer-in-charge of Cox's Bazar Police Station.

According to the police, Saleh's father had migrated from Myanmar before the Liberation War of 1971.

The arrestee, however, has a national identity card and a passport to prove his Bangladesh nationality, police added.

Police interrogated him till yesterday morning to ascertain his link with the violence.

Saleh is son of Mir Ahmed of South Pahartali of Sadar upazila.

Police sources said 239 people have been arrested in connection with the Ramu violence till yesterday.