attack on bbaria hindus
6 more held; protests continue
Staff Reporter
Police have arrested six more people for their alleged involvement in recent attacks on temples and homes of the Hindu community people in Nasirnagar upazila of Brahmanbaria. Police conducted separate drives in different areas of Nasirnagar upazila yesterday and arrested them, said officer-in-charge of Nasirnagar Police Station Abu Jafar. With yesterdays arrests, the total number of arrestees over the attacks on Hindu community in Nasirnagar stands at 84. Meanwhile, agitated students blocked the Shahbagh intersection in the capital again yesterday, in support of their several demands, one of them being arrest of those involved in the Nasirnagar attacks on Hindus and their institutions.
They also demanded immediate removal of minister Sayedul Hoque for his derogatory remarks about Hindus following anti-minority attacks in the district. A group of students from Dhaka Universitys Jagannath Hall and leaders and activists of different left-leaning student bodies, including the Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, Chhatra Federation and the Chhatra Union, under the banner of General Students of Dhaka University, gathered at the Shahbagh intersection around 11:30am. At one stage, the protesters blocked the busy road, halting traffic, which intensified the sufferings of people who had come to the hospital. They demanded that damaged houses and temples in Nasirnagar be rebuilt by the government, and a minority affairs ministry be created and a commission be set up.
Several left leaders and activists of different organisations of minority communities, including the Minority Rights Movement and Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Adibashi Party, joined the blockade.
During the protest, Dhaka Universitys (DUs) vice-chancellor (VC) Prof. AMS Arefin Siddique, its acting proctor M Amzad Ali, and Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) president Saifur Rahman and its general secretary SM Zakir Hossain visited the spot to express their solidarity.
The demonstrators withdrew the blockade around 1pm following assurance by the DU VC that he will arrange a discussion with road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader over their demands, said the co-coordinator of the movement, Manik Rakkhit. They will also stage a long march towards Nasirnagar from Shahbagh on November 18 to press their demands. They threatened to go for a tougher movement if their demands were not met by November 30. On Friday, students had blocked the Shahbagh intersection over the same issues. On October 30, a synchronised attack was carried out on Hindus, vandalising around 100 houses and temples and looting valuables, including cash, gold jewellery, TV sets and mobile phones. The two-hour mayhem reportedly followed a Facebook post from the account of a local fisherman, hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims. Fisheries and livestock minister Sayeduls role came into question as he allegedly made derogatory remarks about the minority people following the attacks. Unidentified persons set fire to at least six houses of Hindus in different villages of Nasirnagar upazila on November 5 and torched another Hindu house at Changapur village in the same upazila on November 13 amid a huge outcry following the first attack.
