Staff Reporter :
Fisheries and Livestock Minister Sayedul Haque on Sunday brushed aside the allegations brought against him following the Nasirnagar mayhem.
“I will resign if anyone can prove that I made derogatory remarks about the Hindus after the Nasirnagar attack,” he said this at a media briefing in Brahmanbaria yesterday.
Sayedul met the press to clarify his roles during the Nasirnagar incidents.
Denying the allegations, the Minister claimed that a vested quarter is spreading false rumours against him quoting derogatory remarks about Hindus with a view to tarnishing his political career.
Meanwhile, police have arrested nine more people for their alleged involvement in the attacks on the Hindu community in Nasirnagar upazila.
The fresh arrests were made during drives in different areas early Sunday, reports our Brahmanbaria Correspondent quoting police.
Confirming the fresh arrest, Nasirnagar Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge Abu Jafar told The New Nation that the arrestees were produced before local court without remand plea.
Police have so far arrested a total of 53 people in connection with the attacks on the Hindu community.
Another report adds: The government has withdrawn Nasirnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Chowdhury Muazzam Ahmed eight days after the attack on some Hindu homes and temples in the Upazila.
The Public Administration Ministry on Sunday issued an order in this regard, attaching him to the Ministry until further order.
“The move has been taken in the public interest,” said the government order.
Deputy Commissioner of Brahmanbaria Rezwanur Rahman confirmed that Muazzam had been withdrawn from Nasirnagar and transferred to the Ministry.
When contacted, the UNO told The New Nation that he had been transferred and attached to the Public Administration Ministry and he received an order in this regard in the afternoon.
Commenting on the transfer, he said, “It’s a blessing for me”.
Earlier, political parties, civil society leaders and professional groups blamed local administration for failing to contain the attacks on the Hindu community in Brahmanbaria centering a Facebook post.
On October 30, zealots vandalised at least five temples and ransacked about one hundred houses. Two more attacks were carried out few days later on Hindus – setting their houses on fire.
National Rights Body, rights activists and minority community leaders said that the main intention of the attack was to drive away Hindus and occupy their lands.
