“It is a complete failure of the local administration. They should have had the information of the vandalism earlier as it happened in front of them. It is shameful,” Rezaul said while addressing a seminar in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Rezaul said a three-member NHRC committee had been sent to the spot to "dig out the facts behind the incident".
"They will talk to the victims and question the local authorities. Prior to the findings, we cannot term it planned, but its nature hints it was done intentionally," Rezaul said.
The NHRC team formed on Tuesday will be led by commission member Enamul Haque Chowdhury. The other two members are NHRC Director Sharifuddin, and its Assistant Director Joydeb Chakraborty.
On Sunday, an estimated 3,000 Muslims took part in a series of violent attacks in the Hindu localities of the upazila following a rally over an alleged defamatory Facebook message posted on the account of an illiterate Hindu youth, Rasraj Das. The attacks happened despite Rasraj having already apologised to "Muslim brothers" in a subsequent post on Saturday, saying that his account had been hacked.
Later on Saturday, Rasraj – an Awami League supporter – was caught, beaten up and handed over to the police by the radicals, who also vandalised and looted his house, and destroyed two Puja pavilions at his Haripur village.
The rally was reportedly organised by local leaders of the radical Islamist groups Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat and Hefazat-e-Islam through announcements from local mosques – a trend seen many times in recent years to incite attacks on temples and houses of religious minorities across the country.
It is alleged that some local Awami League leaders assisted the mob in carrying out the attack. Two of them were identified as Sheikh Abdul Ahad, former chairman of Nasirnagar Upazila, and his son, Oli Mia.
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
