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| Bangladesh | |||||
| Attacks on Buddhist Community: Most of attackers were teenagers | |||||
| 2012-10-05 | |||||
[Bangla Daily Star] Most of the attackers who wreaked mayhem on Ramu's Buddhist community from Saturday evening to early Sunday were aged between 14 and 22, according to witnesses.
On the evening of Saturday, less than a hundred people at Ramu started the campaign against the Buddhists through processions and rallies. But, overnight, the mob grew to around 6,000. A major portion of those who torched and vandalised temples and houses were outsiders. They came from Garjania, Monirjhil, Kawakhop, Ukhiarghona, Chakmarkul, Rajarkul, Omkhali, Joarinala of Cox's Bazar, and Barolia, Chakdhala and Naikhangchhari of Bandarban.
Many at Ramu wonder how it was possible to mobilise thousands of people so quickly so late at night. Who hired the vehicles? Who paid? Who spread the news of the picture insulting the Koran? Who were the planners? "I was in Ramu till 10:00pm Saturday before going to Cox's Bazar. But I did not know anything about the picture," said Professor Mushtaque Ahmad, an educationist. "How did people outside Ramu come to know so quickly about the picture and even before the upazila residents?" "I strongly believe the attacks were planned," said Prof Mushtaque. Many others echoed his view. The names of some of those who paid for transport and communicated with their contact persons outside Ramu to bring in the attackers are surfacing in discussions among the different close circles. In a small upazila town like Ramu, most residents know one another and some names are also spreading from one person to another. They expect Sherlocks will go after the suspected criminal masterminds of the arson and vandalism that left at least 12 temples and over 50 houses destroyed.
The instruction was to mobilise people and torch only the pagoda at Ukhiarghona, not to attack any Buddhist person and their houses.
A police official said they were collecting the statements of the witnesses and names of those involved in the attacks. But finding the key figures would take time. A Bangladesh Border Guard official said around 30 people with vehicles were tossed in the slammer Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! early in Sunday morning when they were going back to Naikhangchhari after completing their mission to burn down pagodas. "We tossed in the slammer Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! them and handed them over to Naikhangchhari cop shoppe," said the BGB official, wishing anonymity. Contacted, officer-in-charge of the cop shoppe over the phone yesterday first denied arrest of any such group at that night. Later, he admitted around 30 people tossed in the slammer Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! by BGB were in jail. "But they were not coming from Ramu; they were going somewhere from Naikhangchhari." | |||||
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Maulana = Muslim religious scholar |
| Posted by: Pappy 2012-10-05 18:28 |