Ramu attack preceded by ominous meeting
Finds investigation by lawyers
Around 24 hours before the September 29 attack on Buddhists, a meeting participated by locals and outsiders from Cox's Bazar took place in Ramu and guest speakers at the meeting made offensive remarks against minorities, a team of lawyers has found in its investigation.
“The meeting was under way between 5:00pm and 8:00pm on September 28 at a shop of Hakim Company in Teschir Pool,” eminent jurist Amir-Ul Islam told a press briefing at Supreme Court Bar Association Building in the capital.
The meeting was organised to reveal the findings of the investigation by a 16-member team of lawyers led by Amir-Ul Islam. The team visited different parts of Cox's Bazar for three days from October 11 and talked to witnesses, victims, Buddhist monks and the officials of the local administration to know what actually happened in Ramu on September 29 and 30.
The lawyers observed that the attack on Buddhist temples in Ramu was carried out to destabilise the country and tarnish its image before the world and the neighbouring countries including Myanmar, Sri Lanka and China.
It seemed that the Ramu violence was aimed at destabilising the country rather than retaliating an insult to religious sentiment, said Amir-Ul Islam. The attack might have been a conspiracy to damage Bangladesh's relationship with the neighbouring countries, he added.
The investigation carried out by Sammilito Ainjibi Samannoy Parishad also revealed that the Facebook post blamed for fuelling the attack was fabricated.
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