Minority groups blame politicians for attacks

Leaders of religious minority groups on Sunday sought commitment from political leaders for their security in the wake of recent nationwide attacks on houses and temples of Hindus.

The leaders said they  feared such attacks would run through to next elections.
Five were  killed, at least 47 temples and 1,500 houses belonging to Hindus were vandalised  or set on fire during the recent attacks in 37 districts, according to  Bangladesh Puja Udjapon Parishad.
Statistics have come from a monitoring  cell installed in Dhaka’s Dhakeswari National Temple on Mar 1, the Parishad’s  chief Kajal Debnath has told bdnews24.com.
But Hindu-Bouddha-Christiain  Oikya Parishad said the extent of damages would be far more.
Ninety-nine  temples were attacked, 48 of them were looted, vandalised and burned down, the  organisation’s General Secretary Rana Dasgupta told bdnews24.com. “Almost 2,000  minorities’ houses were burned down.”
He feared such attacks would  continue.
“Let this not be part of nasty politics. The way top  politicians are speaking, it seems they are instigating conflict,” he  said.
“BNP and Jamaat said they did not carry out the attacks, Ershad is  also denying. Awami League says there’s no question of their involvement. Then  who did it?”
Dasgupta said they all wanted to see that political leaders  were with them. “They can prove by their deeds that they are politicians, not  criminals.”
“They can do politics, but it should be clear that we are not  guinea pigs,” he said.

Dasgupta cited Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics  figures that Hindu and Christian and other minorities’ population in Bangladesh  came down to 9.7 percent in 2012 from the 21 percent in 1971 and 19.7 percent in  1947.
“The main reason for attacking minorities’ houses and temples is to  take away their property. The culture began in 1947,” he said.
He feared  that if the current trend continued, the number of minorities would come down to  one percent of the population over the next 10 years.
Puja Udjapon  Parishad chief Devnath said they did not want any special favour for the  minorities. “We only want that our name be not the cause of our  trouble.”
“If this was to be the end, then it would have been peaceful.  But this is not the end. More war crimes verdicts will come. Such acts are being  done with a target before and after the elections.”
He called upon the  government, administration and political parties to be aware of the  attacks.
Bangladesh Puja Udjapon Parishad Joint General Secretary Nirmal  Kumar Chatterjee said they would file a report prepared by the monitoring cell  findings to authorities and foreign agencies soon.
Government assistance  to the victims was not satisfactory, he said.

Bangladesh  Hindu-Buddha-Christian Oikya Parishad Presidium Member Subrata Chowdhury  recalled the making of Bangladesh and later history to claim that those  governments were ‘always involved in suppressing the minorities’.
“We  don’t want to believe Awami League is involved in the 2013 attacks. But, they  have failed to ensure justice. Local authorities have also failed to take  necessary actions,” he said.

Source: bdnews24