The attack on the Hindu community of Malopara in Abhaynagar of Jessore was carried out in a planned manner by political activists opposing the 10th parliamentary polls, alleged a report of Gonojagoron Mancha following their visit to the area.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Welfare Front placed a five-point demand, including formation of a neutral judicial probe committee, to prevent attacks on minority communities.
“After investigating, we found that as soon as the voting had ended, perpetrators with hired goons swooped on the minority community after propagating a rumour that ‘four Muslims were killed in Malopara’,” said Imran H Sarker, spokesperson of the mancha, according to our DU correspondent.
Some of the attackers, positioning themselves a kilometre away from the village’s entrance, also gave wrong directions to a fire fighting unit that had come to the villagers’ rescue, he said.
A 16-member team collected the findings on their first road march to Jessore from the capital.
Some locals were also involved in the incident as they had hoped the attack would drive the Hindus away and they could grab land belonging to the minorities, it said.
Meanwhile, the mancha will begin their second road march “Dhaka to Thakurgaon” on January 16 to help minority victims there cope with losses and also to drum up public support against communal violence.
Imran H Sarker also blamed law enforcers and supporters of the local candidate for not ensuring the minority community’s safety.
Just after the polls ended on January 5, BNP-Jamaat activists allegedly vandalised and looted 130 houses and torched 10 others at a Hindu village in Abhaynagar.
Meantime, the convener of the welfare front, at a press conference in Supreme Court Bar Association auditorium in the capital, placed the demands of the organisation.
Gautam Chakraborty, the convener, also urged the government to compensate and rehabilitate the victims.
In Gazipur, Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote, a cultural organisation, formed a human chain protesting the attacks on minorities and also on education institutions, reports our Gazipur correspondent.
