Still to recover from the trauma of the communal attacks from a year back, the Buddhists in Ramu of Cox’s Bazar have alleged that police is trying to stage a “farcical” trial by excluding the actual perpetrators and implicating innocent Muslims.
Leaders of the Buddhist community said they had handed over to police a list of 15 people, who they were sure had been directly involved with the destruction of 12 temples and a good number of houses in September last year.
“We have come to know that almost all of the top 15 suspects, identified both in the home ministry and the judicial inquiry reports, will be dropped from the final charge sheet,” Nitish Barua, a leader of Ramu’s Shima Bihar, told the Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday.
The frontline culprits had been moving around freely and mixing with the local police, he alleged.
About a month ago, Md Azad Miah, superintendent of Cox’s Bazar police, talked to the local Buddhist leaders and sought a list of those they thought were responsible for the attacks.
Tarun Barua, vice-president of the Maitree Bihar management committee, told the Dhaka Tribune that police were not taking any action against the persons that the government probes had identified.
However, while talking to the Dhaka Tribune in his office, Azad Miah said: “They [Buddhist leaders] just gave us a list. But they do not want to testify. Is it possible for the police to frame charges only on the basis of a list?”
“Police cannot accuse anyone unless the charges are proved beyond doubts. Unless they testify or we get some substantial proofs, we cannot charge anyone,” he said. The Buddhist leaders, on the other hand, said it was not possible for them to give statements.
“How can I give a statement? The accused persons got a copy of the statement I submitted to the judicial commission. If we give any written statement, hey will attack us again,” a Buddhist journalist told the Dhaka Tribune.
Meanwhile, with police implicating a number of innocent Muslims in the area with the cases, a sense of fear have mounted the Buddhists about retaliation.
Both local Muslims and Buddhists said punishing the main culprits would have sufficed to prevent the repetition of such incidents.
But, tracking down innocent people would make the locals hostile towards their Buddhist neighbours, they feared.
“It is true that many innocent people have been arrested or charged. Many of them requested us to recommend their names to the police for release; but we cannot certify as we are not the plaintiff. The police have filed the cases against around 15,000 unknown people,” Tarun Barua said.
Alak Barua, joint secretary of the Shima Bihar, told the Dhaka Tribune that the government response for rehabilitation of the affected families was excellent; but the Buddhists were not happy with the handling of the cases.
Most of the male members in Mondolpara, from where a good number of people allegedly joined the vandalism, have been on the run fearing arrest.
“The main culprits are moving freely while the common people, who went to the scene out curiosity or have not done anything wrong, are charged. This may make people hostile towards the Buddhists in future,” Mizan Haque, a resident of Mondolpara, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“We want the real culprits be brought to justice,” he said.
Police Super Md Azad Mia, however, claimed: “Our aim is not to victimise the innocent people; we have to do our part. We have already submitted seven charge sheets. In 15 days, we will submit the rest of the charge sheets.”
According to the Buddhist leaders, the list contained the following names: Nurul Islam Selim, president of Ramu Press Club; Fotakharul union parishad members Nurul Absar and Kamal Uddin; BNP leaders Mohammad Rafiq and Abu Taher; Mohammad Abdullah, secretary of Kawarkup union unit Awami League; and Didarul Alam, Saiful Islam, Moulavi Liton, Azizul Haque, Enamul Haque, Md Abdullah, Joynal Abedin, Hafez Ahmmad and Mohammad Shaidullah.
On September 29-30 last year, a rumour that the Qur’an was being insulted led to extreme elements vandalising, looting and burning down ancient temples and the houses of Buddhists living in the area.
After the attacks, the government formed a probe body that identified 205 people as being involved directly and leading the attacks.
A judicial probe also found active participation of those 15 people in the attacks. Later a judicial commission submitted a report that earmarked 298 people.
Police later filed 19 cases against about 15,000 named and unnamed people as the Buddhists reportedly said that they were inside their houses during the attacks and could not identify anyone.
