Sunday's hate attack in Brahmanbaria was “certainly” preplanned, and one of its motives was to grab land belonging to Hindus by driving them out of their homes, said the National Human Rights Commission, rights activists and community leaders yesterday.

They demanded formation of a judicial enquiry committee to identify the masterminds behind the two-hour long mayhem over a Facebook post from the account of a Hindu man “hurting the religious sentiment” of the Muslims.

Rasraj Das, a 27-year-old fisherman, is now in jail in a case filed over the post.

Before his arrest and the synchronised attack, Rasraj claimed he had nothing to do with the post, but apologised for it anyway. Relatives say his account may have been hacked.   

“The attack on Hindu localities in Brahmanbaria's Nasirnagar was certainly planned and deliberate. It was also part of the protest rallies [organised by two Islamist organisations -- Touhidi Janata and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat],” Enamul Hoque Chowdhury, an NHRC member and chief of a delegation, told reporters.

A fact-finding team of the NHRC, a six-member delegation of Nagorik Committee led by rights activist Sultana Kamal, a 10-member team of Bangladesh Hindu-Buddha-Christian Oikya Parishad led by its General Secretary Rana Dasgupta visited the area yesterday.

A delegation of the Indian High Commission led by its first secretary (Political) Rajesh Uike also visited the affected localities.

Enamul said had it not been preplanned, the attackers could not have carried out the mayhem simultaneously in different minority areas.

“The simultaneous attack on the Hindus was certainly a planned one like the ones during the 1971 Liberation War,” he said, adding that one of the targets was to grab lands of the Hindu people by intimidating them.

On the looting of valuables from Hindu homes and temples, including gold ornaments and idols, money, mobile phones and televisions, Enamul said thieves and dacoits blessed by the rally organisers were to blame for that.

Speaking at a rally at Gouro Temple at Mohakhal Para, Rana Dasgupta said, “We know what probe bodies actually do.”

He demanded formation of a judicial probe committee to determine the role of the local administration and the police before, during and after the attack, and also to bring the perpetrators to book.

“One reason behind the attack was to occupy Hindu people's land by driving them out of the country,” he said.

Sultana Kamal said everyone knew who organised the rallies.

“Then why the perpetrators have not been identified yet?” she said.

She also questioned the role of the local administration and the police.

“We don't have any confidence in the enquiry teams formed by the police and the local administration as their roles are questionable.

“We doubt whether we will get to see the reports of the probe bodies… We demand that the government form a judicial probe body and another fact-finding committee comprising civil society members,” she said.

Meanwhile, in a shocking statement, Awami League lawmaker and Fisheries Minister Sayeedul Haque yesterday described the incidents of looting as “not that serious”.

“There were only one or two incidents of looting. Things were certainly under control … It were journalists who blew it out of proportion,” he said.

The Brahmanbaria-1 MP also defended the response by the local administration and the police.

“The local administration and the police took necessary measures at the right time and the situation is now totally under control,” he claimed, while talking to reporters at the Zila Parishad Dak Bungalow at Nasirnagar.

The minister went to his constituency three days after the attack, but was yet to visit the affected areas as of last night.

His version of the event is in stark contrast with that by police, witnesses and journalists who visited the area.

“Around 150 to 200 locals attacked five temples in Nasirnagar upazila and vandalised seven to eight idols. They also vandalised homes and injured two people,” Brahmanbaria Superintendent of Police Mizanur Rahman himself told The Daily Star after the attack.   

Witness accounts and photos and videos run by the media show extensive damages to many homes and temples and signs of widespread looting, though a complete picture is not yet available.

The attackers ran amok through eight Hindu localities, including Kashipara, Daspara, Ghoshpara, Duttapara and Nomoshudropara, Abdul Quader, officer-in-charge of Nasirnagar Police Station, had said after the incident. 

He was withdrawn from the post yesterday over “negligence in duty”.