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General Buddhism => General Buddhism => Topic started by: Ensapa on October 04, 2012, 08:44:00 AM
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Here's some sad and disturbing news. The Buddhist minority in Bangladesh has been attacked and discriminated against for being Buddhist, after a Buddhist person posted something insulting to Islam on his facebook. Perhaps, this is exactly why the Buddha said that right speech and right conduct is important. Due to the recklessness of one Buddhist, the rest of the Buddhists in his country suffers.
Rioters torch Buddhist temples, homes in Bangladesh
Bangkok Post, Sept 30, 2012
Ramu, Bangladesh -- Thousands of rioters torched Buddhist temples and homes in southeastern Bangladesh Sunday over a photo posted on Facebook deemed offensive to Islam, in a rare attack against the community.
([url]http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/picture/upload/bangla-ramu.jpg[/url])
<< The burnt Buddhist temple of Shima Bihar in Ramu. Thousands of rioters have torched Buddhist temples and homes in southeastern Bangladesh over a photo posted on Facebook deemed offensive to Islam, in a rare attack against the community.
Officials said the mob comprising some 25,000 people set fire to at least five Buddhist temples and dozens of homes in Ramu town and its adjoining villages, some 350 kilometres (216 miles) from the capital Dhaka.
The rioters claimed the photo allegedly defaming the Koran was uploaded on Facebook by a Buddhist man from the area, district administrator Joinul Bari said.
"They became unruly and attacked Buddhist houses, torching and damaging their temples from midnight to Sunday morning," he told AFP.
"At least 100 houses were damaged. We called in army and border guards to quell the violence," he said, adding that authorities had temporarily banned public gatherings in the area to prevent further clashes.
It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties, and authorities did not say if any of the rioters were arrested.
The country's home minister, industries minister and national police chief rushed to the scene Sunday morning.
Police officer Rumia Khatun said about "25,000 Muslims chanting God is Great" first attacked a Buddhist hamlet in Ramu, torching centuries-old temples, and later stormed Buddhist villages outside the town.
Witnesses said the rioters left a trail of devastation at the Buddhist villages.
"I have seen 11 wooden temples, two of them 300 years old, torched by the mob. They looted precious items and Buddha statues from the temples. Shops owned by Buddhists were also looted," said Sunil Barua, a local journalist on the scene.
Barua, himself a Buddhist, said 15 Buddhist villages were attacked and more than 100 houses were looted and damaged. "The villages look like as if they were hit by a major cyclone," he told AFP by phone.
Buddhists, who make up less than one percent of Bangladesh's 153 million population, are based mainly in southeastern districts, close to the border with Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Sectarian tensions have been running high since June when deadly clashes erupted between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.
Although Bangladesh, where nearly 90 percent people are Muslims, has witnessed deadly clashes between Muslims and Hindus in the past, sectarian clashes involving Buddhists are rare.
In recent weeks tens of thousands of Muslims have hit the street across the country to protest a US-made anti-Islam mocking the prophet Mohammed.
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I really feel disturbed when I saw the pictures on the web. The first thing that came to mind was the amount of negative karma that those people have created by causing hurt to the 3 Jewels. I am sorry but why must religion be something that you can use as an excuse to hurt other people? No religion teach you to be cruel and hateful... If indeed you are mad, please take it out by being more forgiving and kinder... Forgive those who have done wrong. I believe all religions have that teaching. :'(
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Religion is a very sensitive issue in every multiethnic, multicultural and multireligious country. That is why it is very important to respect one another's religion and not create tension and riots such as the one described in this article. Tolerance must be practiced if we want peace to come to this earth. The Buddha said that "hatred does not cease by hatred; by love alone does it cease." This is the Buddha's advice to men who preach antagonism and ill-will. It is the only method to solve the problem. The man who posted the insults to Islam in his facebook is, in my opinion, not a Buddhist as he is not following Buddhist principles of tolerance and self-restraint. I hope the Buddhist leaders in Bangladesh will be able to solve this problem by explaining what Buddhism teaches.
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Religion is not sensitive, it's the people mind not understanding the beauty of being people. Religion touches the heart of many sufferers. Temple is just external matter for common gathering on learning and practice, no issue at all, the news broadcasted is good as the Buddha statue developing buddha seed to people who see, read, and hear it. Buddhists should know karma of the past, present and future and live comfortably and unannoying. Buddhism place important on the holistic mind of common harmony and peace as the fundamental for developing Bodhi mind same as Buddha :P
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I really feel disturbed when I saw the pictures on the web. The first thing that came to mind was the amount of negative karma that those people have created by causing hurt to the 3 Jewels. I am sorry but why must religion be something that you can use as an excuse to hurt other people? No religion teach you to be cruel and hateful... If indeed you are mad, please take it out by being more forgiving and kinder... Forgive those who have done wrong. I believe all religions have that teaching. :'(
sometimes, people will always be people and they will not change irregardless of religion. That is the reason why the Buddha has advised us against provoking them in the first place by guarding our body, speech and mind. In fact, all unenlightened beings should not be provoked which is the reason why the Buddha said that our understanding of karma coupled with the holding of our ethics can free us from suffering. It is just the nature of samsara and in samsara when you make a mistake or create the causes for undesirable results, you will have to face those results without exception. I find this news very saddening and shocking as well, not only because of how the Buddhists are being destroyed, but also that all of this came upon because of one man's callousness at sharing that offensive picture.
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Seems like the thai monks are protesting against this and I do find it a good reason to protest as it is for a good cause and not for political reasons.
Monk protest in Bangkok against Bangladesh unrest
CNA, October 4, 2012
BANGKOK, Thailand -- About 300 Buddhist monks demonstrated in the Thai capital Bangkok on Wednesday against recent attacks by Muslim mobs targeting temples and houses in Bangladesh.
([url]http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/picture/upload/monks-bangla.JPG[/url])
<< Bangladeshi monks studying Buddhism in Thailand display signs and pictures of destruction in their country as they hold a demonstration calling for an end to attacks against Buddhist communities in Bangladesh, in front of the United Nations regional office in Bangkok. (AFP - Christophe Archambault)
Holding signs reading "No More Violence We Want Peace" and "Stop Muslim Terrorism on Bangladesh Buddhist", the monks from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand massed outside the UN offices to call for a probe into the unrest.
"We don't want to blame anyone, but we want this barbaric incident to stop because now Buddhist followers have to seek protection from police around the clock," one of the event organisers, Kanraya Tasanasarit, told AFP.
Bangladesh police said Tuesday they had arrested nearly 300 people in connection with the violence, which saw Buddhist temples and homes damaged or set on fire.
Buddhists, who make up less than one per cent of Bangladesh's 153 million mostly Muslim population, are based mainly in southeastern districts, close to the border with Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Sectarian tensions have been running high since June when deadly clashes erupted between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.
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Here's an opinion piece on this subject matter. With the amount of articles that actually cover this incident, it is pretty clear that this incident has provoked the ire and fear of many Buddhists: but they forgot that religion that the followers are in does not represent the followers, if they act in ways that contradict their religious values. It is not about religion, it is rather how the followers misrepresent it.
Religious sensitivities no excuse for violence in Muslim world
The Globe and Mail, Oct 2 2012
Ramu, Bangladesh -- Religious sensitivities cannot be used to justify violent attacks. A perceived insult against one’s faith is simply not an excuse for breaking the law. And it is not an excuse to persecute people with different religious beliefs.
The looting and destruction of Buddhist temples and monasteries in Bangladesh by thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims is the latest example of this dangerous and warped way of thinking.
The mob’s rationale: they were angry about a photo of a burned Koran allegedly posted on Facebook by a Buddhist boy. While these protesters demand respect for their religion, where is their respect for the religion of others?
The Buddhist minority in Bangladesh, a country of 150 million, has traditionally coexisted peacefully within the majority Muslim society; however, there are now fears of further sectarian violence. For its part, the government blamed the attack on Islamists, as well as on Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
But the incident is not an isolated one; it comes on the heels of last month’s protests in Muslim countries over the offensive depiction of the Prophet Mohammed in a low-budget film produced by an Egyptian Copt living in the U.S.
This pattern of intolerance is alarming, and should concern religious leaders, as much as governments, because the violence is being committed in the name of Islam, and subverts what the religion actually stands for. Of course, minority religions across vast swaths of the world are subject to attacks, but religious minorities in the Muslim world, including Baha’is, Ahmadis, Zoroastrians and others, are particularly vulnerable because of the failure in many countries to guarantee freedom of religion, as well as the rise of Islamist governments in the wake of the Arab spring.
In Egypt, Christian Copts are concerned about the erosion of their religious rights. In Pakistan, the country’s blasphemy laws were recently used to arrest a Christian girl with mental disabilities who was accused of desecrating the pages of the Koran. A furious mob demanded she be punished. Last year, the country’s national Minister for Minorities – a Christian and a critic of the blasphemy law – was shot dead, In Nigeria, churches in the North have been destroyed by Boko Haram, the militant group trying to establish an Islamic state.
These acts of persecution against should be condemned. Entire communities should not have live in terror that a perceived insult of one’s faith will prompt indefensible acts of aggression.
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Is a sad sad day for all of us, we as an human being shall act and behave like one and should not use violence at any cause....ideality speaking. More over it is just a picture posted by one particular individual, as an adult or "saint person" why can't we forgive that individual? Why only practice forgiveness once a year? We can forgive our family and friends, why can't we do the same? It is so sad that some of the attackers didn't know what are they doing? Came all the way from another town by bus and started attacking innocent people and burning down temple which is very, very bad for their karma....i can't imagine how heavy it is....OM MANI PADME HUNG
Why used religion as a tool or method to make yourself look good and showing off power. Religion is method for all of us to learn, learn to be a better person and show how caring we are for each other. May all these nonsense be stopped immediately...
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Do these Muslims all claim to have seen and been personally insulted by the image? No. Do they even know what the image shows? Perhaps, but there's no evidence of that. All we seem to have is an accusation being made on top of already-existing anger and outrage - and, presumably, poor relations between Buddhists and Muslims.
At least, I hope the relations between the communities was already poor or fragile. If this is how Muslims in Bangladesh treat people they already like, I'd say it's time for every non-Muslim to flee the country and find somewhere safer to live.
"We brought the situation under control before dawn and imposed restrictions on public gatherings," said Salim Mohammad Jahangir, Cox's Bazar district police superintendent. ...
Sohel Sarwar Kajal, the Muslim head of the council in the area where the arson took place, said he was trying to restore communal peace.
"We are doing everything possible to quell tension and restore peace between the communities," he told reporters.
Source: Reuters
Not all Muslims can be blamed for this, but Islam and the culture which it has fostered in this region can certainly be held as being partially responsible. Just about every religion objects to some degree to things labeled as blasphemous or insulting, but Islam has been going to much greater lengths in this regard.
Put bluntly, Islam in many places is causing people to be killed over alleged insults. This means religious feelings are being made more important than human lives, which is putting Islam in these places in the category of anti-human and anti-life ideologies. No ideology which says that human lives are worth less than someone's religious feelings or religious beliefs is a system that deserves even a modicum of respect.
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It is sad that one has to resort to burning the temple. Just goes to show how low people can stoop to vent their anger over another person from a different religious faith. No one should deface any thing that is religious, whether from your own faith or another's. Could we be seeing this as just a personal attack, fueled by rage and anger, culminating in this blasphemous act?
I would like to think that whenever such acts are carried out in the name of religion is that person/s perception of taking action that he deems correct --- no religion ever teaches you to resort to violence to solve an issue.
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It is indeed sad to hear about the attacks on the Buddhist temples and the Buddhist communities in Bangladesh.
The person who had posted the offensive photo on Facebook is simply ignorant and has no concern for others’ sensitivities. How could a Buddhist behave like this? His action is no different than the producer who made a video from USA recently that had offended the Muslims around the World. His action not only had caused so much damage and suffering to the Buddhist communities, it had also caused the rioters to perform negative deeds against the Buddhists and temples in Bangladesh! These rioters will be subject to Karmic consequences due to their actions.
On the other hand, it is also the collective karma of the Buddhist communities in Bangladesh to have experienced the attack.
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It is indeed very sad and shocking to hear of these attacks. The Buddha, a fully awakened being, will not get angry because the statues are destroyed and the temples burned down as they are devoid of hatred, anger or ego. However, due to the terrible unskilled deeds as an act of revenge done by some people because of their pride, ignorance and ego, these people will reap what they sow according to the law of karma.
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Wow! A Buddhist man from that area who allegedly uploaded a photo on Facebook defaming the Koran can create such a big lash back. What different are they from that so called Buddhist man then? These so called religious people acted like barbarians just because they felt that some Buddhist has insulted their Koran. They show their wrath on the Buddhist community just because one man from that Buddhist area posted something defaming the Koran? How small their minds are. I'm so gald that I'm a Buddhist and not be like these barbarians. These people need to learn Dharma.
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Here's an update on what is happening to this issue now:
Home > Asia Pacific > South Asia > Blangladesh
Attack on Buddhist Temples premeditated: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Asiantribune.com, October, 7, 2012
Dhaka, Bangladesh -- Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said the violent attack on Buddhist monasteries and houses at Ramu in Cox's Bazar centring an anti-Islam photo on Facebook was a premeditated , reports the ‘Daily Star’. No one linked to the recent attacks on Buddhists will be spared, she has said assuring the minorities of Bangladesh.
She told this to the Buddhists while addressing a meeting with ‘Coordination Committee of Bangladeshi Buddhists’ in the morning at her official residence Gono Bhaban.
Recalling her visit to the Buddhist temples in Ramu and Cox's Bazar, she said, 'how they can destroy these beautiful statues and historic sculpture'?
The Buddhist delegation, led by Shuddhananda Mahathero, informed the Prime Minister about its findings from its own investigation into the attacks on Buddhists and their establishments by religious fanatics in Ramu on Sep 29 and in Ukhia and Teknaf the following day.
The premier said those, who were behind the attack, will be punished after identifying them from the video footages collected after the violence.“The way in which the attack was conducted, it’s clear that it was done in a pre-planned way,” she said.
The temples damaged in the attacks would be rebuilt, the Prime Minister assured the Buddhists. She also assured that the victims would get compensation. Around 250 people have been arrested over the attacks. Ramu Police Station Officer in Charge has been withdrawn and a four-member panel has also been formed for conducting an investigation reports bdnews24.com
"Please show restrain, I assure you that none link with the heinous crime will be spared," she told
The Prime Minister also urged people of all other religious groups to remain alert against repetition of any such occurrence in future anywhere in the country.
Sheikh Hasina said, "I think its not the end. The hoodlums have many ill motives and they might create many anarchies in the days ahead. So, I request every citizen to remain careful to thwart any such plot ."
She said, "I cannot understand how they can be so inhumane. They have no only attacked people, they also destroyed our long heritage, tradition and historical relics of Buddhism".
She assured the Buddhist community leaders of providing necessary assistance to make ready the destroyed monasteries for prayers before their 'Prabarana Purnima' at the end of this month and rehabilitation of the affected families including rebuilding of the houses gutted.
Member Secretary of the Committee Ashok Barua told her that a five-member panel led by former Inspector General of Police P R Barua , who is also vice president of Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities ( HRCBM) , an NGO in special consultative status with ECOSOC of the United Nations, Bangladesh Chapter was investigating the matter.
The Buddhist delegation informed the Prime Minister about the findings of their own investigations on the attacks in Ramu and Ukhiya on September 29 and in Patiya on the following day."In our investigation, we found three motives behind the attack. These are- making the Rohingya issue more troublesome,foiling the trial of the war criminals and making the country unstable before next general election," the report they submitted to the Prime Minister said reports BSS.
They requested the Prime Minister to take the issues into consideration during official investigation into the matter. They also thanked Prime Minister for her quick response and action from the government to check further eruption of the violence.
The Prime Minister said, a section of people cannot tolerate peaceful co-existence of all religions. In 2001, they tried to destroy the communal harmony. Now they are trying again to kill the communal harmony.
The Prime Minister urged all to show their patience and tolerance, and remain careful to check any such occurrence. She asked all to stay alert during the coming religious festivals of all communities.
Sanghanayak Suddhananda Mohathero said the attack was to destroy the communal harmony in Bangladesh. The miscreants set fire on 25 monasteries out of which 12, some of 400 years old, were gutted completely. The fire destroyed many relics of Lord Buddha, he said adding the criminals used inflammables, gunpowder and explosives.
Deputy Leader of the Jatiya Sangsad Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Industries Minister Dilip Barua, Home Minister MK Alamgir, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, member secretary of the UBCPC Ashoke Barua, Buddhist community leaders P K Barua, Dr Pranab Barua, Dr Uttam Barua, Barrister Biplob Barua and heads of different monasteries were present.
Forgive us, please
The National Human Rights Commission chairman yesterday apologised to the Buddhist community for the recent communal violence that left 12 Buddhist temples burnt down.
"We are ashamed, aggrieved, sorry and asking for your forgiveness," Mizanur Rahman told a crowd while visiting Shima Bihar temple at Ramu in Cox's Bazar.
Satyapriya Mohathero, principal of the temple, told the NHRC chief though they are Bengali and gave shelters to Hindus and Muslims in his area during the Liberation War, they fell victim to such violence.
The monastery, which was not only a temple but also a museum of the history of Buddhism, had been lost forever, Mohathero continued reports the daily star.
BNP Inquiry Team
An eight-member probe body of Zia’s BNP formed to investigate the violence visited the burnt monasteries at Ramu.The team led by barrister Moudud Ahmed later, told reporters that they did not go there as a political team. As it was a sensitive issue, they were trying to make an impartial probe. In reply to a question regarding the allegation of the home minister on the role of local BNP lawmaker, Moudud said he would not make any comment on the issue now, reports the Daily Star.
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Sure...blame it on the opposition, but more could have been done to protect the people. This is not really acceptable. But at least they are doing something to protect the surviving Buddhists.
MERUNGLUA, Bangladesh (AP) — Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government is blaming Islamic radicals and opposition activists for attacks over the weekend on minority Buddhists and their temples in southern Bangladesh.
‘‘In primary investigations, we have found that organized radical Islamic groups attacked the houses and places of worship,’’ Home Minister Mohiudddin Khan Alamgir told reporters after a visit to the scene on Sunday. ‘‘Activists of the opposition parties were also among the attacks.’’
Alamgir accused local opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker Lutfar Rahman Kajal of instigating the attack, a charge denied by the opposition legislator.
Hundreds of Buddhists fled their southern Bangladesh villages in the wake of attacks by Muslims who burned at least 10 Buddhist temples and 40 homes in anger over a Facebook photo of a burned Quran.
The Buddhists started returning home Monday amid heightened security and more than 160 arrests.
Mahmud Ali, a local reporter in southern Ramu where the violence occurred, said some local villagers blamed minority Rohingya Muslims for the violence, but the minister made no comment on this allegation.
‘‘We will find the culprits as soon as possible,’’ he said during the visit when he talked to affected Buddhists.
In another development, main opposition BNP leader Khaleda Zia in a statement Monday accused the government administration of failing to protect the minority Buddhists.
She said she feared that the government may use the violence as an excuse to crack down on the opposition.
‘‘There may be a well-planned ill motive behind the incidents,’’ she said.
No new violence was reported on Monday.
Army soldiers, paramilitary border guards and police were deployed, and the government has banned all public gatherings in the troubled areas near the southern border with Myanmar, said Lt. Col. Jaed Hossain, a military commander who was helping to install tents for displaced Buddhists.
‘‘They are coming back. We are giving them protection,’’ Hossain said at Merunglua village in the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar on Monday.
Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir told reporters in Dhaka on Monday that security officials detained 166 people in Cox’s Bazar and neighboring Chittagong district in connection with the attacks.
Hossain said about 1,000 Buddhist families fled their homes after the attacks were launched late Saturday. As the unrest continued through early Sunday, many Buddhist-owned homes and shops were looted. Nojibul Islam, a Cox’s Bazar police chief, said at least 20 people were injured.
Many in the impoverished neighborhood of Merunglua lost everything.
‘‘I was in my shop. They suddenly came and set my shop on fire,’’ grocery owner Prodip Barua told The Associated Press. ‘‘I started running and took my two children and wife from my home and fled the area.’’
He knew his shop had been burned to ashes, but when he returned Monday he was shocked to see that his home was also destroyed.
‘‘How will I survive now? How will I send my children to schools?’’ he sobbed. ‘‘I have lost everything.’’
The government has pledged to rebuild the victims’ homes.
Home Minister Alamgir said after visiting the area that the affected people would get security and support from the government.
The attacks began after a photo of a burned copy of the Muslim holy book was posted on Facebook. The rioters blamed the photo on a 25-year-old local Buddhist, though it was not immediately clear if he actually posted the photo.
Only about 300,000 Bangladeshis, or about 0.2 percent of the country’s 150 million people, are Facebook users.
Bangladesh’s English-language Daily Star newspaper quoted the man blamed for the photos as saying that someone else mistakenly tagged it on his Facebook profile. The newspaper reported that soon after the violence started, the man’s Facebook account was closed and police escorted him and his mother to safety.
Joinul Bari, chief government administrator in Cox’s Bazar, said authorities detained the man’s parents and were investigating.
Buddhists make up less than 1 percent of Muslim-majority Bangladesh, but followers of the two religions usually coexist peacefully. Some of the Buddhist families displaced by the attacks took shelter at the homes of Muslim neighbors, and on Monday, many Muslim families offered food to the victims.
The Bangladeshi violence follows protests that erupted in Muslim countries over the past month after a low-budget film produced by a U.S. citizen denigrated the Prophet Muhammad by portraying Islam’s holiest figure as a fraud, womanizer and child molester. Some two dozen demonstrators have been killed in protests that attacked symbols of U.S. and the West, including diplomatic compounds.
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When we see how much destruction of temples, sacred Buddhist relics, homes and people's lives have been wrought, we will surely understand why the Buddha taught mindfulness and non-harming with our actions of body, speech and mind. Out of the 25000 rioters, it is doubtful that more than a handful of them have actually seen the photo which had defamed the Koran. Yet mob-mania is such, when the rhetoric flies around, feelings run high and go out of control. So, one little unthinking act of posting on the Facebook can set a mob of rioters to such devastating action.
In my mind's eye, I see a picture of happy contrast - that of the Nobel Peace Price winner, a great Buddhist herself, Aung Sun Suu Kyi, hugging members of a Muslim delegation(her countrymen)after their meeting with her. Aung Sun Suu Kyi has spent her entire life practicing peaceful engagement, even with her 'enemies' at home. Peace is a necessity in this world of fragile human relationships. We can live in harmony, we must.
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Now they're blaming the Pakistani intelligence for inciting the destruction...hmm. Why not the country just stand up and clean the whole thing without pulling in other countries?
ISI behind attack on Buddhist temples in Bangladesh
by News Desk
October 2, 2012
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Pakistani spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence [ISI] is believed to be mastermind behind pre-planned attack on the Buddhist monasteries in Bangladesh. Extremist Muslims and some unidentified people, who are believed to be Rohingyas from the neighboring Myanmar vandalised and set on fire Buddhist monasteries on September 30, 2012 on hearing of a Facebook post desecrating the Qur'an, which was tagged on the wall of a Buddhist youth by someone else. Within 24 hours of this notoriety, a fresh spate of sectarian violence, two more Buddhist monasteries were burnt down in the same locality. In Patiya of Chittagong, more than 500 workers of Western Marine set on fire two Buddhist temples, Kalagaon Ratnankur Bouddha Bihar and Lakhera Abhoy Bouddha Bihar, and a Hindu temple, Kalagaon Nabarun Sangha Durgabari after midnight past September 30. The total number of damaged temples in Cox's Bazar and Chittagong now stands at 22.
According to information, agents and operatives of ISI became extremely active for past few months within the Chittagong Hill Tract areas under the garb of non governmental organizations. They have been giving provocations to the Muslim population in that area of "conspiracy of vested quarters" of evicting them [Bangla speaking people] from Chittagong Hill Tract areas with the help of the ruling party. They were even instigated of waging secret war against the religious minority groups in the locality, compelling them to migrate to India or Myanmar.
Pakistani intelligence agency has been working under various disguise inside Bangladesh. Since March this year, ISI operatives in the country are ex-armed cadres of now defunct Freedom Party. It may be mentioned here that, Freedom Party was formed by the self-proclaimed killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman following his brutal assassination in 1975. Founders of this so-called political party received millions of dollars from Libya's former dictator Muammar Al Gaddafi. Freedom Party was recruiting armed cadres from across Bangladesh with the ulterior motive of staging another bloody coup in the country. The armed gangs of Freedom Party made several assassination attempts on Sheikh Hasina and members of her family. But, since few of the kingpins of Freedom Party were hanged to death in 2011, most of its armed cadres went either into hiding or joined local crime rackets. The armed cadres of the party had been given guerrilla warfare training in Libya and Palestine which was financed by Gaddafi and the Pakistani spy agency.
During the tenure of Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP] led coalition government [2001-2006], ISI were actively funding anti Ahmadiya activities in Bangladesh, which were also silently witnessed by the ruling party. The anti-Ahmadiya groups continued to attack and demolish mosques of the Ahmadiya Muslim Jamaat as well continue numerous forms of atrocities on this religious minority group in Bangladesh. It may be mentioned here that, under Pakistani law, Ahmadiyas are not considered as Muslims, while Bangladesh has never ceased the rights of Ahmadiyas to be considered as Muslims.
It is even rumored that the August 21, 2004 grenade attack of Bangladesh Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina was originally plotted by the Pakistani spy agency, which later was implemented by some of the influential figures in the BNP led coalitions government. In some of secret meetings to finalize the August 21 attack, station chief of ISI in Bangladesh or some deep-covered officials were present.
When Bangladesh Awami League led coalition government came in power in 2009, activities of Inter-Service Intelligence got significantly tamed as the government was committed working in combating Islamist militancy and religious extremism.
ISI activities inside Bangladesh were significantly increased in the recent months with the ulterior motive of putting the ruling party into huge crisis both domestically and internationally. Its operations in Bangladesh are divided into several segments namely propaganda, information gathering, recruitment, guerrilla training and offensives. Its propaganda plans are implemented by some of the big fishes in a vernacular daily while a self-proclaimed ex operative of Bangladesh's intelligence, who now works for the Pakistani spy agency is coordinating media war against the ruling government in Bangladesh.
It may be mentioned here that, since independence of Bangladesh, this is for the first time; the peace-loving Buddhist population in the country has become victim of such nefarious brutality and barbaric acts.
Pakistani ISI has been actively involved in illegal trafficking of drugs, arms and counterfeit Indian currency into various destinations in India by using Bangladeshi territory as transit. It is confirmed by dependable sources that, currently ISI is operating at least 50 business establishments inside Bangladesh.
Giving strong reaction at the recent atrocities on the Buddhist and Hindu populations in Chittagong Hill Tract, advocate Gobinda Chandra Pramanik, secretary general of Bangladesh Jatio Hindu Mohajote [Bangladesh National Hindu Grand Alliance] said, "the government needs to give exemplary punishment to the perpetrators and their masterminds. This is the most unfortunate situation for the religious minorities in the country."
He said, "We strongly condemn such barbaric actions and equally demand stern action against the members of the law enforcing agencies, who silently witnesses such massacre on the monasteries and temples."
Gobinda Chandra Pramanik said, "We believe there is some hands of foreign elements behind such notoriety and the government should properly investigate and identify the culprits for the sake of image of the country."
Commenting on such heinous crime, leading English language newspaper The Daily Star in editorial comment said, "What happened in Ramu and some other areas in Chittagong must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. The outrage that was created by people burning down Buddhist temples and houses belies the long tradition of harmonious and peaceful coexistence between people of various creeds in Bangladesh. Religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence are not only an article of our people it is also enshrined in the Constitution of Bangladesh.
"The regrettable incident has struck at the very ethos and the underlying essence of our long religio-cultural tradition. Whatever may have been the causative factor, the violent reaction seems to have been very well orchestrated. We believe that those who believe in the fundamental message of Islam would have exercised more temperance in addressing an issue centering on an anti-Islam picture on Facebook."
Some of the eminent columnists in Bangladesh are already predicting 'monster' behind such notoriety on the Buddhist and Hindu temples in the Chittagong Hill Tract areas.
Columnist Syed Mansur Hashim wrote: "The outrage that some unidentified trouble-mongers committed against Buddhist communities at Teknaf, Ramu and Ukhia upazilas on the nights of Saturday and Sunday has shocked the entire nation. Clearly, the perpetrators have tried to besmear Bangladesh's image as a nation of religious tolerance and harmony. The way Buddhist temples have been damaged and desecrated and houses of Budhist villagers have been ransacked and set ablaze speaks volumes for the monsters behind the mayhem."
He wrote, "The mob violence that engulfed Buddhist villages saw widespread looting and the gutting of religious relics and monasteries. With some of the most revered Buddhist temples in ashes, including the 250-year-old Shima Bihar in Ramu, communal harmony between Buddhists and Muslims is effectively in tatters. The attacks were an attack on harmony and on peaceful coexistence. But given recent events, particularly the worldwide backlash of Muslims against a film made in California mocking the Prophet Mohammad, religious sentiments had already been heightened and subversive elements have taken advantage of the situation to incite communal violence."
English language daily The New Age in its editorial comment wrote, "While it is absolutely unacceptable in a democratic political and cultural dispensation to have the minority communities, religious or ethnic or otherwise, assailed by the majority ones, a section of the majority Muslim community resorted to rampant attacks on Buddhist monasteries, Hindu temples and households in Ramu of Cox's Bazar on Saturday midnight and Sunday."
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This act is equal to drawing blood from a Buddha, no? Hence one would be reborn in the hell realms for countless of eons.
I've heard the karmic consequences for such an act are...
1. one being born in a place where there is no Dharma.
2. one will be born with broken limbs this explains why there are people born imperfect or ratarted or disabbled
3. one will be born in a place that where resources cannot be found
4. one will be born without a home or always have no home
There's probably more I am sure...
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Here's the latest update to the situation....i am saddened and shocked by the huge shockwaves that this incident has caused but neverthenless, it will pass. It is also a reminder of how important it is for us to always be vigilant in our actions.
Unless Karma is wrong.
Home > Asia Pacific > South Asia > Blangladesh
After Riots, Buddhists Call for Peace
By Farid Ahmed, IPS, Oct 10, 2012
DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Anxiety has yet to die down over a week after crowds of Muslims torched more than a dozen temples and scores of houses in southeast Bangladesh, leaving thousands of Buddhists with the unshakeable premonition that more violence was forthcoming.
<< Policemen guard a Buddhist monastery in Dhaka following sectarian violence in Cox's Bazar. Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS
The government has repeatedly tried to assure the religious minority that they have the support and protection of the state, while the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Mizanur Rahman, apologised for the atrocities – but it seems nothing can assuage the fear of fresh violence.
“We’re shocked by this unexpected violence… yet we appeal to all to maintain peace as Buddhism preaches peace and non-violence,” Dr. Pranab Kumar Baruya, a former visiting professor of Dhaka University, told IPS during an interview at the Dharma Rajika Buddhist Monastery in Dhaka.
“We want communal harmony. We number only one million (in Bangladesh) and we need the support of the government and the majority of the people in a country where we’ve also been born and where Buddhism has been practiced for more than a thousand years,” he added.
Amid mounting pressure on the government to launch a judicial inquiry into the attacks, the country’s top business leaders have expressed anxieties that a recurrence of such incidents might have a negative impact on the country’s image, investment and international trade.
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry asked the government on Thursday to take immediate measures to ensure “such unexpected incidents do not take place (again).”
“A sense of fear still persists among the Buddhist people and it’s the responsibility of the government to allay the fear by providing proper security and bringing the culprits to justice,” Ranjit Kumar Barua, a retired joint-secretary to the government of Bangladesh, told IPS.
Ancient relics destroyed
The riot began on Sept. 29, when large crowds of Muslims attacked Buddhist shrines and torched homes in southeast Bangladesh, home to the highest concentration of Buddhists in the country.
Protesters chanted anti-Buddhist slogans and rioted throughout the night in the town of Ramu in the tourist district of Cox’s Bazar. Violence spilled into the adjoining areas and continued the following day.
The local administration had to call in the army, paramilitary troops from Border Guards Bangladesh and police forces to maintain law and order.
According to Baruya, ancient Buddhist relics, along with rare palm-leaf manuscripts of folk and religious tales (locally known as Puthis) were burned and several hundred rare statues of Lord Buddha were either damaged or looted by the mobs.
“Almost all the temples and monasteries, adorned intricately with wood carvings, were burned and damaged. They were several hundred years old; some of them were built in the late 17th or early 18th centuries,” he said.
Pragyananda Bhikkhu, resident director of the Ramu Central Sima Bihar in Cox’s Bazar, told IPS, “The damage done is irreparable and no one on earth will be able to compensate for this loss. The wounds might heal but they will continue to bleed deep in our hearts.”
“The temples belonged to the Buddhists, but they were also priceless treasures of our country (as a whole), they were part of our heritage,” Nehal Ahmed, a college professor in Dhaka, told IPS.
Police and witnesses told IPS that a photograph of a partially burned Quran, allegedly posted on Facebook by a Buddhist youth, sparked the riot.
An initial report said that the boy was tagged in the photo but did not post it himself. The Facebook user’s account has since been deleted.
“This can’t be accepted in this relatively peaceful South Asian nation,” Ahmed said, referring to the recent deadly violence that swept across several countries in response to a low-budget American film, ‘Innocence of Muslim’, desecrating Prophet Mohammad.
“We’ve seen many deaths during protests in Pakistan over the anti-Islam film, but it was relatively peaceful in Bangladesh,” he said.
Political stalemate
Top political leaders, hailing from the ruling Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have pointed accusing fingers at each other in a blame game that has further deepened the anxiety of Buddhists who comprise less than one percent of the total population in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Home Minister, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, who visited the scene of the violence immediately after the riot, blamed the BNP for the attacks.
The minister said the violence was planned, citing evidence of gunpowder and petrol found in the burnt monasteries and houses.
Both the prime minister and the home minister also hinted that Rohingya Muslims, refugees of persection and sectarian violence in neighbouring Myanmar (formerly Burma) who fled to Cox’s Bazar two decades ago, might be responsible for instigating the attacks.
Meanwhile, Khaleda Zia, leader of the BNP and a former prime minister of Bangladesh, said on Saturday that the government itself was behind the attacks.
This week the Bangladesh Supreme Court ordered the government to ensure complete security to Buddhists and other minority groups.
Buddhist monks, primarily in Myanmar, Thailand, and Sri Lanka, staged demonstrations in front of the Bangladesh missions in their respective countries, venting their anger and demanding an impartial probe into the attacks.
International rights groups and non-governmental organisations including Amnesty International also asked the government to bring the culprits to book immediately.
Many Buddhists feel that whatever the investigation unearths, horrific memories of one of the worst attacks on the Buddhist faith will remain alive.
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Seems that Bangladesh will arrest the people involved in the destruction against Buddhists. This is a welcome move...but not if all was planned for political reasons. At least the arrests will send a message to the people that they are not allowed to carry out acts of violence.
Nearly 300 arrested in Bangladesh for attacks on Buddhists
Article
Over the weekend nearly 300 people were arrested in Bangladesh after about 25,000 Muslims took part in attacking 11 Buddhist temples and destroying dozens of Buddhist shops and houses over an anti-Islam post on Facebook.
The attacks took place in 5 towns and a dozen villages and was the worst violence against the minority Buddhist community since the country's independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Authorities say the violence was organized as many Muslim attackers were bussed in, however, a specific group has not been named.
The government increased security in the Buddhist areas with about 1,300 soldiers being deployed to keep order. A senior army officer said the areas are getting back to normal.
The controversial Facebook post is a photo showing a page of the Koran being flushed down the toilet allegedly posted by a Buddhist man. The man, who has gone into hiding, denies posting the photo and said someone else tagged him in the photo.
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It is very easy to put the blame on the muslims with such atrocities but who's really to blame? It seems that everything began in Myanmar where the so called Buddhists were quick to strike against the muslims for the rape of Buddhist girl. Its amazing how swift is the karma when religion comes into the picture. It would be good if we cut the karma here and not encourage hatred and discrimination against the muslims.
These images of the burnt Buddha is a good reminder for all of us to watch our practice and how we represent our faith, our lama and the teachings so as not to harm Buddhadharma with our actions and broken commitments. How do our actions connect with atrocities against Buddhism? Well, just in the same way how the people from Myanmar were quick to act against the muslims, resulting in reprisals against other Buddhists in Bangladesh. All of our actions have larger and smaller implications.
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It is very easy to put the blame on the muslims with such atrocities but who's really to blame? It seems that everything began in Myanmar where the so called Buddhists were quick to strike against the muslims for the rape of Buddhist girl. Its amazing how swift is the karma when religion comes into the picture. It would be good if we cut the karma here and not encourage hatred and discrimination against the muslims.
I just hope that the rest of the Buddhists in the world would agree with this point but at the moment, I am not sure. There are protests everywhere over this incident (and interestingly, act as if they could not care less. It would be nice to see a Buddhist organization offer to help and rebuild the destroyed temples and homes as an act of care and love.) It's time to really just forgive and forget and rebuild what has been destroyed.
These images of the burnt Buddha is a good reminder for all of us to watch our practice and how we represent our faith, our lama and the teachings so as not to harm Buddhadharma with our actions and broken commitments. How do our actions connect with atrocities against Buddhism? Well, just in the same way how the people from Myanmar were quick to act against the muslims, resulting in reprisals against other Buddhists in Bangladesh. All of our actions have larger and smaller implications.
It is also a very strong reminder that there are repercussions and karma for every action performed and that we should never forget that. What happened in Myanmar has caused a ripple effect on this. Sometimes, just a moment of forgetfulness can bring upon repercussions that many of us fear so much...
thanks for your powerful reminder on the power of karma. It is a very apt time for you to bring this up as a powerful reminder to all of us that the law of Karma makes no exceptions, whether or not we are Buddhists.
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And now, a twist to the story: the Buddhist was framed!
Home > Asia Pacific > South Asia > Bangladesh
A devil's design
The Daily Star, Oct 14, 2012
Fanatics used fake facebook page to run rampage in Ramu
([url]http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/picture/upload/ramu1.jpg[/url])
Ramu, Bangladesh -- An unprecedented hate campaign against the Buddhist community raged through Ramu, a region known for its communal harmony for centuries until the night of September 29. Eighteen pagodas were damaged and about 50 houses burnt down in six hours of madness by Muslim zealots. Julfikar Ali Manik investigated extensively, only to find that the source of the shocking outrage was a faked facebook page.
It was all faked.
The facebook page with an anti-Islam picture that provoked the September 29 rampage against the Buddhist community in Ramu was photoshopped.
Somebody or a group had taken a screenshot of Uttam Kumar Barua's facebook profile page, cut out the address of anti-Islam website “Insult allah” and pasted it on the address bar visible in the image.
Once the fabrication was done, it looked like “Insult allah” has shared the anti-Islam image with Uttam and 26 others.
The Daily Star showed the screenshot to IT and graphics experts.
The paper has become sure that it was a manipulation done to frame Uttam, who is a local Buddhist, and wreak mayhem that left 12 Buddhist temples burned to ashes and dozens of houses damaged.
A very innocent story was also cooked up about how Uttam's so-called facebook page came to public knowledge.
Omar Faruk, a youth of Ramu, claimed his friend Abdul Moktadir alias Alif, student of a private polytechnic institute in Chittagong, came to his mobile repairing shop in the evening of September 29.
According to Faruk, his friend signed in to his facebook account and made a scene finding Uttam's profile page bearing the anti-Islam photo.
Moktadir and Faruk claimed they had taken screenshots of the “profile page belonging to Uttam”.
The fabrication of screenshot could be the first part of the plan behind the mayhem and bringing rioters from outside Ramu the second part.
Why the plotters chose Uttam's profile is not clear yet. Uttam, an underprivileged assistant deed writer, has been on the run along with his wife and child since the night of the incident.
One thing is evident in the screenshot that someone called “Abdul Muktadir” had entered Uttam's profile though he was not a facebook friend. Uttam's profile was not restricted.
The facebook account of “Abdul Muktadir” is not accessible anymore.
But Faruk's friend who came to the shop in September 29 evening is registered at Chittagong Polytechnic Institute as Abdul Moktadir.
He was detained by police on October 9.
“My son is a very bright student. He got stipend when he was in school. He has hearing problem but his memory is very sharp,” said his mother Sajeda Begum at his house at Fakirabazar on October 6.
She refused to help The Daily Star meet her son Moktadir and repeatedly requested this correspondent to drop the idea of writing about the matter.
“He can fix mobile phone problems and he has very good computer knowledge as he studies computer engineering in Chittagong,” she said.
Talking to this correspondent on October 3, Faruk expressed annoyance as his help was sought to reach Moktadir.
He dropped out after class-IV, but he is skilled at repairing computers and mobile phones, he said.
Interestingly, his facebook account claims he studied at Ramu High School and Cox's Bazar Govt Collage.
He set up a shop three to four years ago at Fakirabazar in Ramu. Locally known as “Faruk's computer shop”, it is close to Moktadir's house.
Faruk denied link with any organisation or political party. Sajeda claimed the same about his son Moktadir.
Moktadir admitted that he was involved with Islami Chhatra Shibir when he was a student of class IX and X in 2008-09 at Ramu Khizari Adarsha High School, according to a police official.
Moktadir's mother also claimed nobody among their close relatives has any involvement in politics.
However, one of her brothers-in-law is Naikhangchhari upazila chairman of in Bandarban. His name is Tofail Ahmed, who doesn't hold any official post but locally everyone knows him as a Jamaat leader.
Tofail denied his involvement with Jamaat and said he was in Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of the party, when he was student of Chittagong University.
Surprisingly, Sajeda Begum, while giving names and brief profile of her close relatives to this reporter, mentioned the brother-in-law as Ali Ahmed.
But when her brother said it is Tofail Ahmed, she looked embarrassed but explained nothing.
Images in Faruk's computer
Some anti-Islam images were already stored in Faruk's computer at the shop.
Faruk claimed to this correspondent he and his friend Abdul Moktadir quickly created some image files with screenshots of Uttam's facebook account.
They did this as two strangers in his shop were unhappy seeing the pictures on their facebook, he said.
They saved the pictures after the strangers left, said Faruk, adding that they had to download some software to do it.
Faruk said they created the files to prove to the locals that the picture insulting the Quran did not belong to them and was from Uttam's profile.
He also added that Uttam's account suddenly disappeared within a short time after they saved the images. Faruk's claim was very confusing as no one else, except the account holder, can deactivate a facebook account.
And, moments after the departure of the two strangers, there was a continuous flow of people curious to see the pictures. All of them were shown images stored in Faruk's computer.
The people with no knowledge about social networking site facebook believed that was Uttam's facebook page with the anti-Islam image.
Faruk and Moktadir not only exhibited fabricated screenshots of Uttam's facebook profile, but also stored many pictures downloaded from “Insult allah” and the Quran-insulting photo, which was later circulated from mobile phones to mobile phones via Bluetooth.
In fact, there were significant anomalies between the claims of Faruk, Moktadir's mother and other local witnesses who saw the pictures at Faruk's shop.
Many locals got the images from Faruk and Moktadir on September 29 evening. They were local journalists, Faruk said, adding he does not know their names but would be able to recognise everyone.
Faruk on October 3 claimed that he could not give The Daily Star the images since the Ramu police have been keeping his computer since the night of September 29.
The Daily Star got those pictures, but from Nazir Hossain, owner of a local computer-training shop. He said the pictures were spread from Faruk's shop and after September 29, he collected those from locals.
Locals and a police official said these are the images they had seen on Faruk's computer.
Faruk claimed the picture in question appeared on his facebook page. Moktadir first saw it and then him.
But the collected pictures does not support Faruk's claim. The account of “Abdul Muktadir” was used while seeing Uttam's profile page and taking the screenshots.
If someone does not restrict his/her profile, every facebook account holder can view some information of that person. Otherwise, a brief restricted version of the profile is seen.
This correspondent failed to reach Uttam for a comment.
URL FAKED
“www.facebook.com/Insultallahswt” appeared in the browser address bar of the profile page of Uttam, according to the screenshot taken by “Abdul Muktadir”.
But the image had clear signs of manipulation suggesting that “/Insultallahswt” was pasted there either to hide the real address or to convince people how bad Uttam was.
Even the information above the tagged picture on Uttam's profile --“Insult allah with Uttam Kumar Barua and 26 others” with a date of September 18 -- was similarly forged.
It was not possible to know whether this manipulation was done on Faruk's computer or it was put in his computer after making the images somewhere else.
Answers to these questions are locked in Faruk's computer seized by the police, said an expert.
WHO WERE THE STARNGERS?
According to Faruk, two men aged 23-24 saw “Uttam's facebook page” on his computer along with him and Moktadir.
Faruk had never seen the two before. Faruk was born and brought up in South Sreekul of Ramu.
Moktadir's mother Sajeda claimed that she heard that four customers in the shop made the hue and cry seeing the picture on Faruk's computer.
A person, who had seen the picture that night at the shop, requesting anonymity said being informed, he along with a few others went there around 8:30pm.
He did not find Faruk there; a boy unknown to him was showing the pictures. The “unknown nice looking” boy was also explaining to the locals the meaning of the picture.
“When the boy was giving me explanations of a picture, I told him not to explain and just to show the pictures.”
The Daily Star investigation found this unknown boy was Moktadir.
WHY MOKTADIR IN RAMU?
After passing the SSC from Ramu, Moktadir moved to Chittagong for a diploma on computer engineering at Shyamoli Ideal Polytechnic Institute.
Since then, he has been living in Chittagong and visited his mother occasionally.
Although the final exams of his sixth semester were going on, Moktadir showed up in Ramu.
His mother Sajeda said Moktadir visited her on September 25 and the following day he had gone to his uncle Tofail Ahmed's place in Naikhangchhari and returned to Ramu on September 28.
He left Ramu again for Chittagong on October 1, she said.
Referring to records, Moktadir's dormitory superintendent Imam Hossain said Moktadir was not in the dorm between September 22 and 26.
He was present on September 26 and on 27 but absent on September 29 and 30. He returned to the dorm on October 1 and left again on October 5.
Police detained Moktadir on his return to the dorm in the night of October 9.
His mother Sajeda said, “Moktadir came between the gaps of his exams to take money to pay the fees for the seventh semester admission. As he had time, he went to visit Naikhangchhari for a few days.”
Sajeda gave Moktadir Tk 17,000 for admission fees, she claimed.
However, the principal of the institute said they did not ask students for admission fees for the seventh semester since the sixth semester finals were still going on. They could ask for the fees in November.
Faruk claimed he and Moktadir went to his shop together on September 29 evening after having snacks at a local restaurant. Both saw the pictures on facebook, showed and distributed those among locals and later went to the police station.
Sajeda, however, claimed Moktadir went to Faruk's shop to repair his aunt's mobile phone around 7:30pm on September 29. At that time, he saw the pictures and after repairing the phone he retuned home within an hour.
Later, police went to their home and asked Moktadir to go to the police station to confirm that he saw the pictures at Faruk's shop.
There were several other inconsistencies between the statements of Faruk and Sajeda on the same issue.
Sajeda tried to hide many things while talking to The Daily Star on October 6 and even the information she divulged was later found to be untrue during The Daily Star investigation.
THEY LIVE CLOSE
The first campaign to incite people started from Faruk's shop at Fakirabazar of Ramu, which was close to Moktadir's home.
A small procession was brought first from near the shop. Hafez Ahmed, who lives next door to Moktadir's home, played a leading role in bringing out the procession attended by some other locals.
When this correspondent went to talk to Sajeda on October 6, Hafez Ahmed's sister-in-law was there too.
She defended Moktadir and vigorously discouraged the correspondent to write about him.
Hafez Ahmed has been on the run since pictures of him in the procession were published in newspapers on October 2.
WHO IS ALIF?
Moktadir is known as Alif in Ramu Bazar area. His mother said Alif was his nickname.
The nick was not used in the facebook account of “Abdul Muktadir”.
However, The Daily Star found a facebook account of “Abdul Muktadir Alif”.
Very little information was found the profile as it is restricted to non-facebook friends of “Abdul Muktadir Alif”. It said “Abdul Muktadir Alif” studied at Ramu High School. The profile picture was of a boy but sex was mentioned as female.
Interestingly, Faruk also uses the nick Alif for his facebook account even though it is not his name.
Asked on October 3, Faruk said he just used it for his facebook account as he liked this nickname of his friend.
MOKTADIR WAS SHIBIR MAN
Md Iltut Mish, additional superintendent of police in Chittagong, who was working in Cox's Bazar on deputation, told The Daily Star on Friday, “According to Moktadir's statement and the information in his personal diary, he was the sports secretary of Ramu thana Islami Chhatra Shibir in 2009.”
Moktadir had told police that since he was good in sports, Shibir men gave him the post, he said.
Contacted over the phone, Moktadir's uncle Tofail Ahmed said he was not involved in Jamaat. “It would not be possible for anyone to show my name in any document of Jamaat.”
Locals in Ramu said Tofail's car went to Ramu twice within a few days since the attack on Buddhist homes and pagodas.
Tofail claimed his wife went to the doctor's and some other places in Cox's Bazar and she could have visited her mother and sister in Ramu.
Moktadir's two maternal uncles Rakib and Rajib also live with Tofail in Naikhangchhari.
Locals said one of them was seen in Ramu before the attack and during the night of the attack.
Tofail ruled out the possibility of them being anywhere near Ramu on September 29 night. He said, “They [Rajib and Rakib] live with me here [in Naikhangchhari] and they were at home that night.”
Rajib told this correspondent over the phone that he had gone to Ramu on September 27 on family business and returned to Naikhangchhari the same day.