Bhola to celebrate subdued Kali Puja
There will be not much festivities centring Kali Puja today in Bhola where tensions still prevail following a clash in Borhanuddin upazila that left four people dead.
Leaders of the Hindu community in the district have decided not to hold any cultural programme, marking the puja, to mourn those killed.
“We will only perform the rituals of the puja. This is part of our efforts to show sympathy to the families of those killed in the clash,” Abinash Nandi, president of Bhola chapter of Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad, told The Daily Star yesterday.
On October 20, at least four people were killed and more than 100 others injured as religious zealots clashed with police in Borhanuddin over a hate conversation spread through Facebook and its Messenger application.
Hindu devotees also celebrate Diwali during Kali Puja. They illuminate the doors and windows of their houses with candles, while others light lamps inside small paper houses to be elevated on top of long bamboo poles.
Abinash said worries still prevail among the Hindus in the upazila after the zealots vandalised 12 of their houses and torched one on the day of the clash.
Fences of some Hindu houses were also set on fire in Kachia and Kunjuerhat areas while stacked betel-nut leaves were burned in Manikerhat area in Borhanuddin.
Contacted, Bhola Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Masud Alam Siddique said there was no reasons for the Hindus to be worried.
“We have taken adequate measures to beef up security at all temples of the districts,” he said.
A huge number of Border Guard Bangladesh, police and Rapid Action Battalion members have been deployed to maintain law and order, he added.
PROBE REPORT FILED
The committee formed to investigate the Bhola mayhem submitted its report to the DC yesterday.
But Masud, who received the report at his office in the morning, did not disclose the findings.
He said he forwarded the report to the Divisional Commissioner of Barishal.
On the day of the clash, the local administration had formed the three-member committee, led by Deputy Director (local government office) Mahmudur Rahman, to investigate the incident.
The committee was asked to submit its report in 72 hours, but it failed to meet the deadline and got an extension on Wednesday.
COMPENSATION
Ali Azam, the local lawmaker, has distributed Tk 5 lakh each to the families of the four killed in the clash.
At a press conference in the district, he said the money was given on behalf of Tofail Ahmed, Awami League MP in Bhola-1.
Earlier at another press conference on October 21, Sharbadaliya Muslim Oikya Parishad placed a six-point demand, including providing compensations to the victims.
Their other demands included immediate withdrawal of the superintendent of police in Bhola and the officer-in-charge of Borhanuddin police station, and capital punishment of the Hindu youth who they claimed was responsible for the spread of the hate speech.
Comments