Admin's probe finds no AL feud behind B'baria attack
When two police probes said internal conflict of local Awami League resulted in the Nasirnagar attacks on Hindu temples and homes, the investigation by Brahmanbaria district administration found no such link.
The district administration probe also found no negligence on the part of the local police and the administration.
The police probes had, however, mentioned negligence of duty on the part of the UNO and the OC concerned as reason for the attacks being successful.
Two police probe committees -- one formed by the Police Headquarters and the other by Brahmanbaria district police -- investigated the attack of the religious zealots. The criminals had vandalised and looted Hindu homes and temples on October 30 following a Facebook post allegedly made by local youth Rasraj Das hurting the religious sentiments of the Muslims.
The committee formed by the Brahmanbaria deputy commissioner's office in its report simply said the Facebook post was the reason behind the attack.
Destroying communal harmony through vandalism of temples of the Hindu community was the motive of the attack, mentioned the report of the three-member committee led by additional district magistrate of Brahmanbaria Shamsul Hoque.
Political conflict was not mentioned as a reason even when some locals in their testimonies said the attack was the outcome of the conflict.
The report, however, said police should have been more cautious and should have acted considering the importance of the incident.
“I think political feud might be the reason behind the attack,” Rafiuddin, president of Nasirnagar upazila AL, had told the probe body of the district administration.
Headmaster of Ashutosh Pilot High School in Nasirnagar, Abdur Rahim, had echoed the same, according to the district administration committee report that mainly narrated what had happened that day.
The two police probe reports mentioned that then upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) and then officer-in-charge (OC) of Nasirnagar did not act “prudently and properly” while dealing with the situation.
Much of the mayhem that day could have been averted had the administration and the police acted prudently and properly, heads of the police-formed committees had told The Daily Star earlier.
UNO Choudhury Muazzem Hossain was transferred while OC Abdul Kadir was withdrawn after the incident.
“The local administration should have acted properly to avert the incident but it did not,” Shakhawat Hossain, additional deputy inspector general of police (Chittagong Range), had said quoting his probe report.
On the role of the OC in tackling the situation, Shakhawat said the OC should have been more “active” that day. “The UNO should have referred the matter to the local police official (OC Kadir) for his opinion,” Shakhawat, who had led the police headquarters probe body, said.
Additional superintendent of police in Brahmanbaria, Iqbal Hossain, chief of the committee formed by the Brahmanbaria SP office, said his committee also found negligence of duty on the part of local administration and the police.
Referring to his committee findings, he said the UNO failed to discharge his duty and he had given verbal permission for the rallies without talking to the local OC, the SP and the DC.
On OC Kadir, he said the OC should have informed the matter to his seniors immediately. “He had deployed only one platoon of policemen during the incident. Sixty more policemen were deployed later but it was not enough,” he added.
The police probe bodies submitted their reports in mid-November.
The district administration's 76-page probe report was submitted on November 13 to Deputy Commissioner of Brahmanbaria Rezwanur Rahman. It did not identify the perpetrators and masterminds behind the attack.
The committee suggested finding out who posted the image on Facebook and vandalised Hindu homes and temples and recommended maintaining religious harmony through views exchange among religious and political leaders.
Brahmanbaria DC refused to make any comments on the findings of the administration's probe report. He said the report was sent to higher authorities.
A total of eight cases were filed in connection with five attacks on Hindu homes and temples on Oct 30, Nov 3, 4, and 13.
Police arrested a key instigator, Jahangir Alam, but most of the 100 people detained in this connection so far were innocent, locals claimed.
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