Author:
Publication: The Navhind Times
Date: October 16, 2001
Dhaka, Oct 14 (UNI): Another brutal
chapter was written in continuing attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh yesterday
when armed men attacked Durga puja mandaps and damaged idols of Hindu gods
and goddesses in southern districts of Pirojpur and Chandpur in Bangladesh.
The independent UNB news agency,
quoting witnesses, said the attackers damaged three statues at puja mandap
in Purba Bainari village in Nazirpur Upazila in the Pirojpur district.
Four youths were injured while trying
to resist the attackers and one of the seriously wounded - Rabi Das - was
admitted to the Nazirpur health complex.
Senior police officials visited
the spot after some 200 people rushed to the UN office demanding immediate
arrest of the attackers.
Another report says unidentified
miscreants attacked two puja mandaps at Boalia and Dighaldi villages in
Chandpur district on Friday night and dumped two statues from each mandap
in the nearby ponds.
A senior police official, Motiar
Rahman, visited the spot and assured the minority people that security
would be provided to them.
Members of the minority Hindu community
are facing attacks, allegedly by BNP activists, at different places after
the Prime Minister, Ms Khalida Zia-led alliance registered a landslide
victory in October one elections.
The Hindu voters are generally believed
to be supporters of former prime minister, Ms Sheikh Hasina's Awami League
that suffered a stunning defeat in the elections.
Leaders of the Hindu community who
have been protesting torture on their people and have decided to keep the
upcoming "Durga puja" celebrations a low key affair as a mark of protest.
DPA reports that Hindu families
were fleeing into India after radical Islamists in Bangladesh looted and
set fire to their homes.
The influential daily Bangladesh
Observer said quoting local immigration officials said the border crossings
at the Burimari checkpoint in northern Lalmonirhat district increased unusually
in the wake of the parliamentary
polls.
A local border official said 525
Bangladeshi citizens, most of them Hindus, had crossed the frontier since
october one seeking shelter and food after their houses were set on fire
and their property looted allegedly by radical Islamists and BNP activists.
Hindu temples were pillaged and
their farmlands plundered in the southern districts, Hindu community leader,
Mr Anil Chandra Das said.
About 15,000 Hindus, who were displaced
from their homes and farms about a week ago, had taken shelter in schools
and community halls in southern Kotalipara town.
Most refugees accused the local
authorities of failing to protect minorities against rape and other torture.
Hindus were being targeted by Islamists
for allegedly voting for secular Awami League in the recent polls, Mr Das
said. The league led by former prime minister, Ms Sheikh Hasina suffered
a crushing defeat.
Witnesses said a Hindu temple in
the capital Dhaka was ransacked and partially demolished by Islamic youths
yesterday.
Hindus make up for less than ten
per cent of 130 million people of bangladesh dominated by muslims. The
other minorities are the Christians and the Buddhists.
