We condemn the incident and demand arrest of the culprits and put them on trial. They must be punished. It is highly disturbing to peaceful coexistence of the minority people who never felt so let down and endangered by their Muslim neighbours. Victims said they did not know the attackers, they are not local people and question arises who are those miscreants and why they were not resisted by police and local administration at the Upazila headquarters who were sitting idle without giving protection to the minority community. It smells something fishy.
The cause of the mayhem is a post on a facebook account belonged to a Hindu youth of Nasirnagar Upazila; which apparently showed disrespect to the Holy Ka’ba. But the youth has repeatedly claimed it was not his work and someone may have hacked his account and posted the picture to create communal disorder. Nonetheless, the boy sought apology to local elders and the matter should have ended here. But anti-social elements gave it religious colour and mounted attacks on the Hindu villages bringing shame on the entire nation.
Media reports said Muslims and Hindus together tried to resist the attackers but they were beaten back. About 50 people were injured in the attacks. The youth was earlier arrested on Saturday. Meanwhile, local Ahle Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat organized a protest rally at the Upazila headquarter on Sunday and when the rally was in progress the attacks at a distance begun. It is not clear who mounted the attacks although many want to point fingers to religious extremists. Others believe certain vested interest quarters readily seized the opportunity they created from behind.
It is no secret that serious conspiracies are going on at home and abroad to destroy communal harmony in Bangladesh and make the country a battleground for militants. We fear the incident of Nasirnagar is not different from attack on Buddhists villages and temples at Ramu in Cox’s Bazar district in 2012. Attackers were known by face there but they were not arrested and punished as police also avoided resisting them on Sunday. It appears that police have lodged two cases with about 1200 accused. We are afraid it is going to be a big arrest business soon when the real culprits will go into the dark.
In our view the government should investigate why police and local administration remained inactive when minorities were under attack.
