To save our Buddhist Minorities in Bangladesh. The 29 Sept to 01,02 Oct, 2012 day night tragedy in Ramu and other Buddhist Villages of Bangladesh. Therefore we have chosen a day on 8th Oct, 2012 to commit to memory as it is our historical Black Memorial Day of Ramu, Teknaf, Patiya and other parts of Bangladesh. Keep it in your mind and don't forget it. We have taken some activities on our hand to save our Buddhist unity and requesting you behalf of Buddhist Save Guard Force of Bangladesh.
Justice is lost in Bangladesh. We know that if a person rings the police for emergency matter in the US, the police arrives in the scene in less than five minutes. On the other hand, if a person in Bangladesh calls police, police ask the person to come to the police station instead of going there themselves. Witnesses in courts are bribed, counterfeit evidences are produced, lawyers are threatened, and documents are falsified.
In a democratic country like Bangladesh, people have no freedom. People cast their votes for the politicians believing that they will develop the country. But, the politicians are corrupt and live largely on people's money. They never think about developing the poor country. Illiterate people are often in problem. Some doctors operate on patients for false reasons and take away their kidneys, livers, etc., without the patients' knowledge. There are many other injustices going on in Bangladesh and we all hope to overcome these problems.
Speakers at a programme marking inauguration of a herbal garden in Rangamati Sadar upazila yesterday emphasised protecting the environment and traditional culture of the jumma people for development of the community as well as overall interest of the whole country and its people.
With support from Manusher Jonno Foundation, Centre for Integrated People's Development (CIPD), a local non-government development organisation, arranged the programme.
Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), inaugurated the herbal garden named 'Murolya Daru Tarum' developed by CIPD on 15 acres of land at Goboghona in Moghban union under Rangamati Sadar upazila.
"The indigenous boidyas (healers) in hills will get the opportunity to provide better treatment to backwoods people as hundreds of species of different medicinal plants will be available from the garden," Shaheen said in her speech as the chief guest.
"The traditional healers will get the opportunity for skill development through research work on herbal medicines and it requires a long term plan involving the people concerned," she said.
Urging all to remain alert about the violators of human rights in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and build up social movement against the evil force, Shaheen said the indigenous people must be united for full execution of the CHT peace accord.
Since time immemorial, the indigenous healers have been playing a very significant role in providing treatment to people, mostly living in rural areas. But the traditional healing community sees decline due to lack of herbal medicines and proper practice," said Ushatan Talukder, member of CHT Regional Council.
"We have to conserve the herbal medicines available in the hills. We have to give importance on growing and creating bamboo clusters too," he added.
He thanked Manusher Jonno Foundation for coming forward for the welfare of the hill people.
Nirupa Dewan, member of National Human Rights Commission, was also a special guest at the function presided over by Jana Lal Chakma, executive director of CIPD.
An indigenous cultural function was arranged on the occasion.
Our Correspondent, Dinajpur
Criminals looted and burnt the houses of an indigenous family at Kasimnagar village in Birganj upazila under the district in brought daylight yesterday, triggering panic among the community.
Led by an alleged land grabber of the area and his two accomplices, around 15 to 20 men equipped with bamboo and wooden sticks attacked the house of Kazra Besra at Kasimnagar village at around 12:30pm, witnesses said.
The criminals assaulted the family members including females and children and dragged them out of the house. After looting things from there, the attackers set at least four houses on fire.
Before leaving the area, the criminals set fire to the kitchen at the house of one of the accomplices of the alleged land grabber, locals said.
"Nobody dared to come forward to help us as the criminals stayed here until the houses were burnt to ashes. The criminals set fire to the house of one of them with an evil intention to brand us as criminals," said Kazra Besra, the victim.
Local indigenous people said they informed Birganj police of the matter but the law enforcers arrived around 90 minutes later although the distance could be covered in 20 minutes.
Kazra, a day labourer, have been living on 15 decimal land with 12 family members including two sons and daughters-in-law. The land belongs to Kedara Besra, another indigenous person at Kasimnagar village in Birganj upazila.
"A local land grabber and his two accomplices have been intimidating us to leave the area in a bid to grab our land and finally they burnt our houses," said Kazra's son Bisu Besra.
Around 40 indigenous families live in the village, locals said.
Arzu Ara Begum, upazila nirbahi officer of Birganj, Shahab Uddin, additional superintendent of police of Sadar Circle and Shamsun Nur, officer in charge of Birganj police station visited the area yesterday afternoon.
Your Right to Know Wednesday, October 31, 2012 Staff Correspondent
Foreign instigation was to blame for the September 29 attacks on Buddhists in Ramu upazila of Cox's Bazar, said Home Minister MK Alamgir yesterday
People doing communal politics in the country were involved in the attacks, the minister told journalists at his office in the afternoon after a meeting with United Nations Resident Coordinator Neal Walker.
The additional divisional commissioner of Chittagong submitted a probe report on the Ramu violence to the minister on Thursday with 11 recommendations.
The minister said, “The culprits have been identified and, according to the report, the motive behind the attacks was to create instability in the country.”
He, however, did not disclose the names of the culprits. Nor did he detail the recommendations.
He said Neal Walker at the meeting expressed satisfaction over the Bangladesh government's steps taken just after the incidents.
During the September 29 attacks, 18 pagodas and about 50 Buddhist houses were torched or vandalised by Muslim fanatics. The violence was instigated by a faked Facebook page that showed an anti-Islam photograph tagged on a Buddhist youth's account.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord was also discussed at the meeting, the minister said.
The issue of complications regarding land ownership in the Chittagong Hill Tracts may be addressed by reforming the land commission, he added.
ANOTHER HELD FOR ATTACK LINK
Police arrested yet another person on Monday night for his alleged involvement with the Ramu mayhem in Cox's Bazar on September 29.
Saleh Ahmed, 34, was arrested from a barbershop from the town's Lal Dighirpar around 10:00pm, reports our staff correspondent from Chittagong.
The arrestee has connection with Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) and had provided shelter to Rohingyas on several occasions, said Jashim Uddin, officer-in-charge of Cox's Bazar Police Station.
According to the police, Saleh's father had migrated from Myanmar before the Liberation War of 1971.
The arrestee, however, has a national identity card and a passport to prove his Bangladesh nationality, police added.
Police interrogated him till yesterday morning to ascertain his link with the violence.
Saleh is son of Mir Ahmed of South Pahartali of Sadar upazila.
Police sources said 239 people have been arrested in connection with the Ramu violence till yesterday.
Fanuses (paper lanterns) being released into the sky on the eve of Prabarana Purnima, one of the biggest Buddhist festivals, during a solidarity event at TSC intersection of Dhaka University on Sunday. Prabarana Udjapan Parishad organised the programme. Photo: STARStaff Correspondent
Prominent civil society members on Sunday conveyed their solidarity to the Buddhist community on the eve of Prabarana Purnima celebration and highlighted the necessity of fostering a secular and inclusive Bangladeshi identity.
“I never think that in this country there is a division between 'us' and 'you'. We all have equal rights to this country,” renowned writer Muhammad Zafar Iqbal told a solidarity event at TSC of Dhaka University, organised to mark the festival which has been marred by the Ramu violence this year.
About the blame game centring the violence, he said, “If we keep on blaming each other for what happened, it means we don't really understand the problem, and if we don't understand the problem, we will never be able to solve it.”
Prabarana Udjapan Parishad organised the event to thank the journalists, politicians, rights activists, lawyers and others who stood up for Buddhists following the September 29-30 violence when at least 12 Buddhist pagodas and over 50 Buddhists houses were ravaged in Cox's Bazar and Chittagong.
During the event, a 100 fanuses (paper lanterns) and mongol prodeeps (lamps) were lit. Each of the fanuses had a name of an affected Buddhist temple written on it. Prabarana Purnima is one of the biggest Buddhist festivals.
Industries Minister Dilip Barua, among others, addressed the programme.
Candlelight vigil held for minorities
Eminent citizens take part in a candlelight vigil at the capital's Central Shaheed Minar yesterday to say no to violence against minorities. Different social and rights organisations organised the programme.Photo: STAR
Staff Correspondent
People from different walks of life and faiths participated in a candlelight vigil at the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital yesterday to show their solidarity with the Buddhist community.
As Buddhists all over the country celebrated their Prabarana Purnima festivities with a heavy heart bearing Ramu scars, students, prominent civil society members and common people joined hands to seek their apology for the recent attacks on minorities.
“We say that we are a country of communal harmony, and yet often this harmony is challenged. That is our failure,” said Professor Emeritus Dr Anisuzzaman of Dhaka University.
Rights activist Sultana Kamal said, “The moment we were singing songs of peace on the dais, I received a message that the Ahmedyia community came under attack in Rangpur.
“We need to be very aware that there are still elements in this country trying to create problems for a secular Bangladesh.”
“We can say a country is developed only when its minority rights are protected," said Humaira Islam of Urban Study Group.
Prof Serajul Islam Chowdhury, Hameeda Hossain, Sara Hossain, Khushi Kabir, Prof Kazi Madinah, and Prof Nasrin Ahmed also took part in the programme.
The event was organised with the participation of different organisations, including Urban Study Group, Ain o Salish Kendro, Nijera Kori and Transparency International Bangladesh.
The Buddhist community of Ramu on the occasion of Prabarana Purnima yesterday fixes paper lanterns at the ruins of Lal Ching Bihar, one of the temples destroyed in September 29 by Muslim fanatics. Yet to recover from the shock, the Buddhists are not releasing these lanterns -- locally known as Fanus -- in the sky unlike the previous years. Top, devotees light lamps at Central Sima Bihar, another temple bearing the scars of the mindless mayhem. Photo: Anurup Kanti DasJulfikar Ali Manik and Prabir Barua Chowdhury
Given its age-old culture of religious harmony, Ramu could well be a town of a series of great festivals this October. And why not? This year, three major religious festivals -- Durga Puja, Eid-ul-Azha and Prabarana Purnima -- of the Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist fell one after another.
But Ramu suffered a deep scar, too, this year. Its people are yet to overcome the trauma of the heartbreaking attack on the Buddhist on September 29. The fire the communal forces set to Buddhist temples and homes has indeed burned more things than a place of worship or someone's dwelling. Those blazes have wounded those parts of their hearts where harmony and joy lived.
In a town where communal harmony has been so prevalent that its entire population regardless of religion shares the joy of each other's religious festival, it is the first time that the Buddhist in Ramu has curtailed their most colourful programme, Prabarana Purnima.
Also for the first time, the Buddhist community refrained from flying paper lanterns (fanus) yesterday. The shell-shocked community will not float, as they do every year, decorated ships on the Bakkhali river in Ramu today. This festival is popularly known as Jahaj Bhasha Utsav.
Instead of flying those traditional "fanus" yesterday evening, Buddhists wore black badges to take to the streets in a procession, calling for peace. Organised by Central Ramu Buddha Jubo Parishad, some 7,000 people from 14 villages joined the march.
"We have postponed the programme in protest against the violence. The atmosphere is not favourable for the festival," said Swapan Barua, acting chairman of Rajar Kul union of Ramu and also the president of the central committee for the ship floating festival.
Eid-ul-Azha, the second biggest religious festival of the Muslim, also came and went without much festivity, as there was no spontaneous participation of the people.
In Ramu's Buddhist neighbourhood, it was never an issue as to who eats beef and mutton and who does not. Ramu's was an age-old tradition of sharing the spirit of the festival, Buddhists visiting the Muslim homes on the eid day.
"Many Buddhists used to join the festival [eid] wearing dresses like the Muslims wear during their festival to share the joy," says Nitish Barua of Uttar Mithachari in Ramu.
Others say the Muslim and the Buddhist in Ramu have always spontaneously participated in each other's religious festivals and their relations have been so cordial that it was hard to separate them on occasions like eid, puja or Buddha Purnima.
"It was the first time in my life that I spent the eid without spontaneous participation of my Buddhist neighbours," Shamim Ahsan Bulu, a social activist and politician in Ramu, told The Daily Star.
"It was beyond imagining that our Buddhist neighbours and friends refrained from visiting our home on the eid day, which was Ramu's age-old custom. Some of them did come to my house having been unable to turn down my invitation. But the usual cheerful spirit was missing," he added.
On the night of September 29, Muslim zealots in their dozens burned to ashes 12 Buddhist monasteries and vandalised six pagodas in Ramu. The unruly mob also damaged dozens of Buddhist homes.
It took several hours before the marauding fanatics could go on the rampage over a faked Facebook page insulting the Quran. All this while, the local police and intelligence personnel remained conspicuously inactive.
Nazibul Islam, who was the officer-in-charge of Ramu Police Sation and was later closed, is one of those who acted mysteriously during the overnight mayhem. Some locals chased him when he went with a minister on October 1 to visit Shima Bihar, burned to ashes by the bigots.
Top police officials of Cox's Bazar and Ramu went to the Bihar on the eid day with some food to distribute among the Buddhist. In their efforts to show things were all right again, the law enforcers had a meal there with some Buddhist priests, including the chief of the burned down monastery.
While locals take it for a "drama," it was an embarrassment for the Buddhist priests.
Progyananda Bhikshu, a priest of Shima Bihar, said they had some restrictions on taking food.
"And we told the superintendent of police [who went there] about it," he said, adding that they still had to share the meal avoiding the chicken just to show courtesy.
Police also sent some food to eight other Buddhist monasteries, much to the embarrassment of the priests.
Nurul Islam, a local Awami League leader and lawyer, doesn't take the police effort positively.
“I am sure the police have other motives for offering food to the priests at the temple," he said adding, "Looks like it was an attempt to soothe their anger against the police."
Police and local administration were also desperate to persuade the Buddhist community to fly "fanus" and float ships and offered to help arrange these programmes.
But Buddhist leaders said they were not in a mood to celebrate the occasion amid festivity and that they would only offer prayers. In silence.
“We were mortified to witness the incident of September 29. We have lost words to describe our feelings," said Satya Priyo Mahathero, chief of Ramu Central Shima Bihar.
This October 1 photo shows a Buddhist monk trying to restore religious texts that was torched by a mob of religious fanatics at a temple in Ramu of Cox's Bazar.Star Online Report
Police arrested one more person Monday night in connection with the September 29 attack on Buddhists in Ramu upazila of Cox's Bazar.
Saleh Ahmed, 34, son of Mir Ahmed of Dakshin Pahartali in the district, was arrested in Cox's Bazar Sadar upazila, reports our Chittagong correspondent quoting police.
Saleh is a part time teacher of a school run by World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), a non-government organisation, said Jashim Uddin, officer-in-charge of Cox's Bazar Sadar Police Station
A mob destroyed 12 pagodas and more than 50 houses in Ramu on the night of September 29. The violence was apparently triggered by a Facebook posting of a photo derogatory to the holy Quran.
Being tipped-off, a team of police raided Lal Dighirpar area around 10:00pm Monday and captured Saleh, the OC said.
Saleh provided shelters to Rohingyas several times, the OC claimed.
He said arrestee's father Mir Ahmed was migrated to Bangladesh from Myanmar before the 1971 Liberation War.
The arrestee, however, claimed himself as a Bangladeshi national and showed his national identity card (NID) and passport before the law enforcers, the OC said.
The law enforcers were interrogating him to ascertain his link with the violence and his identity till Tuesday morning.
Police said 239 people have so far been arrested in connection with the Ramu violence.
