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| Fire-damaged Buddha statue. |
Criminals torched the Buddha idol in
Shakyamuni pagoda of Boalkhali in Chittagong after breaking into the monastery
early yesterday. They burnt its robe but managed to make way with five smaller
idols and the donation box.
Mystery shrouds arson attacks on
Buddhist temple and orphanage at Patiya, and looting and vandalism at another
temple at Boalkhali in the last three days.
The incidents, carried out in similar
fashion, have sent shock waves through the Buddhists in the areas. They hark
back to September last when two temples were vandalised at Kolagaon union in
Patiya. Also that month, fanatics destroyed 18 Buddhist temples, monasteries
and more than 50 houses at Ramu upazila in adjoining Cox’s Bazar district.
On Saturday, a fire broke out at Dhatu
Chaittya Bihar under Mukut Knight village in Patiya around 3:00pm. Suman Sri
Vhikhu, chief monk of the temple, told The Daily Star that it was an arson
attack, but he did not know who were behind it.
Suman said he was at Patiya Sadar to
buy some religious books for the temple when the arson took place. “When I
returned, I found all valuables, including my laptop, TV and furniture in my
room of the temple, gutted by the flames,” he said, adding that the Sramons
(junior monks) and villagers doused the fire later on.
None of the neighbourhood could also say
who set fire to the temple. Around the same time the following day, the
temple’s orphanage was burned down. Again, no one knew who committed the arson.
No one was hurt as children were
attending school at that time, the chief monk said, adding that firefighters
from Patiya rushed to the spot and doused the fire. Mafiz Uddin, officer-in-charge
of Patiya Police Station, said police had visited the spot and were looking
into the matter.
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| Fire-damaged Buddhist orphanage. |
Upazila Chairman Idris Mian, and
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Rokeya Parveen also visited the spot and assured the
local Buddhist community of safety. In neighbouring Boalkhali upazila,
unidentified criminals broke into Shakyamuni Buddhist temple at Jaisthapura
village in the early hours yesterday.
The temple’s monk, Ginanonda Mohathero,
said, “The miscreants vandalised the place of worship, set fire to ‘chibor’,
robe of idol Buddha; pilfered five small idols, and a donation box of the
temple.”
He said the monks were asleep at that
time. Jahirul Haque Sabuj, officer-in-charge of Boalkhali Police Station, told
The Daily Star that they had visited the spot. He said it might be a robbery.
On September 12 last year, fanatics
went on the rampage at Ramu in Cox’s Bazar following a posting demeaning the
Holy Quran from a fake Facebook profile. Several hundred statues of Lord Buddha
were looted from different monasteries during the mayhem.
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Buddhists Face The Brunt This time
(Following is the Daily Star’s Editorial on the constant attacks on Buddhits in Bangladesh.)
(Following is the Daily Star’s Editorial on the constant attacks on Buddhits in Bangladesh.)
Following
the large-scale and systematic attack on Buddhist temples in Ramu in the very
recent past, Buddhist residents at Patiya have faced similar onslaught. Going
by newspaper reports, it is not yet clear which individuals or parties are
responsible for carrying out arson attacks accompanied by looting and vandalism
of a Buddhist temple and orphanage in the Boalkhali area.
The
right to worship and religious freedom are enshrined in the Constitution as an
inalienable right of every Bangladeshi.
We condemn such incidents in the strongest possible
terms any attack on any temple or site considered by any community, large or
small, to be holy. What is now evident from the Ramu and Patiya incidents is
that there has been a very large failure in intelligence on the part of law
enforcement agencies to detect and prevent such well-orchestrated attacks.
Incidents
such as these require meticulous planning and logistics involving a group or
groups of people to execute. With practically all the agencies at the disposal
of the State ranging from police to the various intelligence organs
concentrated wholly on the activities of opposition parties, it is little
wonder that such ‘gaps’ in information gathering about probable attacks on
religious sites is sidelined. This is a serious anomaly that must be addressed.
Suffice
to say, the failure of the State to guarantee protection of religious
minorities smears the country’s image. For in the final analysis of things it
is wholly the responsibility of the government to ensure physical safety of
community members and preserve the sanctity of places of worship. It has become
more imperative than ever to put in place human “intelligence” networks around
vulnerable pockets of minority communities.
Any failure to protect our fellow brethren belonging to other faiths will automatically strengthen the hands of communal forces in the country. And it will act to undermine the very foundations of the secular State that Bangladesh claims to be.
The
collective vigil of the community at large is also vital for ensuring harmony
and peace in society.
