COMMUNAL ATTACK: Judicial probe demanded

Oikya NAP (National Awami Party) President Pankaj Bhattacharjee made this call from a human chain held in front of the National Museum in Dhaka yesterday. There he also demanded compensation for the Hindu families and temples that were affected during the attack. At the human chain, Pankaj claimed that local Awami League supporters and local administration were involved in the attack, and if the local administration were capable of taking immediate measures, the incident would not have happened. “Immediate arrest of the attackers is required not only to protect the minority community but also to establish a non-communal society in the country,” he said. On the same note, social media has been bursting into an outcry protesting violent sectarian attacks in different parts of the country. Amid thousands of virtual protests on Facebook and Twitter, activists from different walks of life have come together to hold a protest rally against the sectarian attack also demanding immediate arrest and trial of the communal terrors. They announced a torchlight procession at 4pm today at Shahbagh. Writers, artists, cultural activists and citizens are to join the protest to support the cause. Baki Billah, one of the organisers of this protest, said this rally is imperative to begin an effective movement against the communal attacks across the country. Activists have initiated a protest event on Facebook through which they said that the venom of sectarianism has spread across the state because the government and its administration have been fuelling these communal attacks. One of the activists commented: “The leaders and followers of the ruling party have no moral courage to stand against these attacks because their people have been on the forefront to suppress Hindu communities.” The event page further reads that the country is heading into a state of deep darkness and is moving further away from the spirit of the Liberation War of 1971. There is no freedom of speech for Bangladeshis now. On the other hand, the approach of development that has been imposed forcibly on the people does nothing for peoples’ cultural development. “We want to make it clear that the government has to take responsibility of this situation and solve this immediately”, an activist urged.