Violence against Buddhists in Patiya
Two attackers confess
Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad brings out a march in the capital yesterday protesting attacks on religious and ethnic minority communities including setting fire to residences and places of worship in the country. Photo: STAR
The contractual workers of Western Marine Shipyard were infuriated at the sight of a Facebook photo "defaming the Holy Quran" on mobile phone and vandalised Buddhist monasteries in the nearby villages in Patiya on September 30, said two arrested workers to a Chittagong court Friday night. Md Ibrahim and Md Mohiuddin, the workers who took part in the violence against Buddhists, made the confession. They also gave names of 34 other workers involved in the attack. They said they saw the Facebook photo at the shipyard around 10:00am on September 30 from other workers. The news soon spread, and the workers first attacked Ovoy Bihar at Lakhera village and then a Hindu temple, they said. Police have so far identified around 100 people involved in vandalising two Buddhist monasteries and a Hindu temple in Patiya. Meanwhile, people and organisations from home and abroad continued their condemnation and protests against the September 29-30 onslaught on Buddhists when several Buddhist and Hindu temples and over 50 houses were vandalised and torched in Ramu and Ukhia in Cox's Bazar and Patiya in Chittagong. Protesting the attack, more than 100 monks in Myanmar demonstrated at Bangladesh's embassy yesterday, while Buddhist community in New York demonstrated in front of the UN headquarters, report agencies. A day ago, about 300 Buddhist monks in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, staged a similar protest. Several human rights, Diaspora organisations, community leaders, professionals and individuals from the Netherlands and other parts of Europe in a joint statement on Monday also strongly condemned the attack. United Forum of Churches, Bangladesh, Sammilito Sanskritik Jote, Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad, Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, Bangladesh Adivasi Forum, Sammilito Ainjibi Samannay Parishad condemned and protested the attack yesterday.
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