9 held, over 1,000 charged over Nasirnagar attacks

Nasirnagar police have so far detained nine attackers and drive was underway to arrest others. Meanwhile, district Awami League has demanded the withdrawal of Nasirnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) and the officer-in-charge of Nasirnagar police station. Local citizens have organised a rally to promote communal harmony for Monday afternoon. On Sunday, an unruly mob of hundreds of people armed with locally-made weapons demolished at least 10 temples and vandalised hundreds of houses of the Hindu community at Brahminbaria‘s Nasirnagar upazila, reportedly in response to an alleged Facebook post making satire of the Masjid al-Haram, the holy site of Muslims. Over 100 people were injured in the attacks while six people were detained. Police took control of the area around 2pm.

Displaced victims yet to get relief

More than hundred displaced families from Brahminbaria’s minority Hindu community, the victim’s of October 30 brutal communal attack orchestrated by the members of majority Muslim community of the district, are yet to get any government relief, complained Kajal Dutt and Nirmal Chowdhury on behalf of the affected families. Informing that two cases were filed Sunday night over vandalising their temples and homesteads, they told the Dhaka Tribune: “The families affected in the communal attack have not received any kind of relief or help yet.” Kajal and Nirmal said in the name of protesting the incident of hurting religious feelings through a Facebook post, several hundreds of miscreants orchestrated an attack on the Hindu population of Nasirnagar from 10:00am to 1:00pm Sunday, demolishing 10 temples and destroying more than 100 homesteads. Numerous males and females including Goura Temple’s Priest Sankar Sen Brhmachari were thrashed cruelly at that time. “The entire locality is gripped in a panic now,” they added. Contacted over the issue, Brahminbaria Police Superintendent Mizanur Rahman said, “We are preparing a list of the affected families. The district administration would provide relief to them.” Deputy Commissioner of the district Rezwanur Rahman and Naisirnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Moazzem Hossain could not be reached over the mobile phone even after repeated attempts.