The attacks that minorities fear around elections in Bangladesh are gradually increasing. If there was only fear of attack from the fundamentalist political forces that took a stand against Awami League in the previous elections, in this election there is fear of attack from the losing candidate of Awami League.
As per the latest news, a person named Varun Ghosh (42) has been hacked to death in Jhenaidah district of Khulna in the southwestern part of the country. Along with that, 40 houses of Vedas have been destroyed. Varun Ghosh`s elder brother Arun Kumar claimed that his brother and their family were brutally murdered for going to the polling station and voting for the boat. But the police are not sure about that.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Jhenaidah Sadar Police Station Sheikh Mohammad Sohail Rana said to TheReport.live on 10th January, "We are not disclosing the name due to the investigation. But we think we will arrest the culprit very soon. We hypothesized that the killings could be primarily due to three reasons: political, land-related, and contractor-related. We will tell the rest of the details after arresting the accused."
But according to police sources, so far 7 people are arrested.
Not only Jhenaidah, there have been reports of sporadic attacks in different parts of the country. In Gaibandha district, allegations of beating up several Hindu members for the voting boat. The defeated independent candidate and local Awami League activists attacked them.
Due to the fear of this kind of violence during the election or later, the central monitoring cell was formed by the minority organization Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council. Kajal Debnath, convener of this cell and president of Bangladesh Puja Celebration Parishad, said the attack occurred in Gaibandha, Jhenaidah. The issue of Jhenaidah is particularly alarming. This is how this attack gradually turned into a festival of looting in the homes of Hindus. So if the administration does not take strict action now, this incident will increase. He said that apart from these two incidents, we have received reports of isolated attacks in other areas including Madaripur, Manikganj, Sirajganj, and Chittagong District. But none of them are like Jhenaidah.
Meanwhile, Manindra Kumar Nath, president of the Mahanagar Puja Committee and joint general secretary of Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad, visited the affected area in Jhenaidah and met the family of deceased Varun Ghosh. He said, there was pressure before the election. Now there is fear. From our side, we demanded that the army and BGB troops to mobilized for another three weeks after the election. Since that was not done. Now the administration should take quick action.
Presidium member of Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad Ranjan Karmakar said, "Both Awami League boat candidates and independent candidates were our friends. But this time it seems we are going to lose one friend for sure".
"We expected that. I will not say that I am very well. Several places were attacked. Now if a party can`t stop its activist then who did we vote for? For whom the majority of the minority people went to the polling station. I hope the administration will play a more vigilant role", he added.
Advocate Rabindra Ghosh, president of Bangladesh Minority Watch, said that he also received information about attacks in 10 places in the country. There were allegations that the supporters of the defeated independent candidate were carrying out attacks. He said that the administration is not taking matters seriously in some cases. I spoke to Gaibandhar police station. They said they had taken a case. But if the administration only sits on the case, this violence will not decrease. The administration should take quick action.
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