Bangladesh rights panel says attack on Hindus deliberate

Dhaka, Nov 2: The Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday said that the large-scale attack on the Hindu community in Nasirnagar of Brahmanbaria was deliberate and carried out in a planned manner, a media report said.

Enamul Haque Chowdhury, chief of NHRC's fact-finding committee, told The Daily Star while visiting the area on Wednesday that he found the attacks coordinated.

The three-member panel reached Nasirnagar on Wednesday morning and spoke to temple priests and eyewitnesses over Sunday's attacks, in which at least five temples were vandalised, and about 100 Hindu houses damaged and looted. 

A delegation of the Indian High Commission, led by its First Secretary Rajesh Uike, visited the affected sites on Wednesday morning. However, they did not speak to the media.

The visit by the NHRC and the Indian High Commission comes as unknown criminals vandalised an idol of Hindu goddess Durga and looted valuables from a temple in Hathazari upazila of Chittagang on Monday night, the Daily Star reported.

The incident came to light on Tuesday morning when Dulal Dey, the priest of Dashmahavidya Temple in Chowdhury Hat area, went to the temple and found its door broken.

The miscreants looted gold jewellery and cash from the temple's vault, Rimon Muhuri, general secretary of Hathazari upazila Puja Udjapon Committee, told the daily.

On information, Komol Dey, a sub-inspector of Hathazari Police Station, visited the spot.

In Brahmanbaria, armed with sticks and sharp weapons, around 200 religious bigots attacked at least five temples, and vandalised and looted about 100 Hindu houses in several localities in Nasirnagar over a Facebook post from the account of one Rasraj Das that allegedly hurt Muslim sentiment.

The attackers also beat up more than 100 people. 

The owner of the Facebook account, from where the post was published, is currently in jail.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) yesterday formed the fact finding committee to look into the incident of attack on Hindus in Brahmanbaria's Nasirnagar.