Leaders of religious minority groups on Sunday sought commitment from political leaders for their security in the wake of recent nationwide attacks on houses and temples of Hindus.
Published : 17 Mar 2013, 10:00 AM
The leaders said they feared such attacks would run through to next elections.
Five were killed, at least 47 temples and 1,500 houses belonging to Hindus were vandalised or set on fire during the recent attacks in 37 districts, according to Bangladesh Puja Udjapon Parishad.
Statistics have come from a monitoring cell installed in Dhaka’s Dhakeswari National Temple on Mar 1, the Parishad’s chief Kajal Debnath has told bdnews24.com.
But Hindu-Bouddha-Christiain Oikya Parishad said the extent of damages would be far more.
Ninety-nine temples were attacked, 48 of them were looted, vandalised and burned down, the organisation’s General Secretary Rana Dasgupta told bdnews24.com. “Almost 2,000 minorities’ houses were burned down.”
He feared such attacks would continue.
“Let this not be part of nasty politics. The way top politicians are speaking, it seems they are instigating conflict,” he said.
“BNP and Jamaat said they did not carry out the attacks, Ershad is also denying. Awami League says there’s no question of their involvement. Then who did it?”
Dasgupta said they all wanted to see that political leaders were with them. “They can prove by their deeds that they are politicians, not criminals.”
“They can do politics, but it should be clear that we are not guinea pigs,” he said.