The home ministry has defended the local administration in Nasirnagar of Brahmanbaria who are widely accused of doing nothing to prevent attacks on Hindus while the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) sees negligence, indifference and lack of prudence of the local administration as the reasons behind attacks.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday said that the police had performed their due role in Nasirnagar while NHRC Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque accused the local administration, including the police, of gross negligence in handling the situation.
The NHRC chief said that because of the seemingly inactive role of police and the local administration, the Hindu temples and households were vandalised at Nasirnagar on Sunday.
“They can’t avoid their responsibility for the losses caused by the attacks,” Kazi Reazul Hoque told a press briefing in its head office in the capital yesterday following a report submitted by a three-member probe committee formed by the commission.
Earlier on Wednesday, the committee visited Nasirnagar upazila of Brahmanbaria following the attacks on Hindu temples, houses over a Facebook post.
On the other hand, the home minster told journalists that the police and the local administration did not show any negligence in performing their duties in Brahmanbaria. “We believe that there was no negligence from our side. However, they could have handled the situation in a better way. That’s why we are withdrawing the officer-in-charge of Nasirnagar Police Station as per the demand of the locals following the incident,” Kamal said. “There was no lacking on part of OC Abdul Quader. But we think he could have done better and that’s why he has been withdrawn,” the home boss said.
A purported post by a Hindu man had triggered a protest rally that allegedly instigated the attack in the presence of the local Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) and the Nasirnagar police OC. The attackers swooped on the Hindu temples and houses from the protest rally that was also addressed by local OC Quader and UNO Chowdhury Moazzem Ahmed. Bigots ransacked about 12 temples and more than a hundred Hindu houses and looted those during the attack.