Communal Violence
An announcement from the village mosque over the mike was made to carry out an attack on houses of the minority community. The villagers duly responded to the call with gusto. The result is that two of the victims of this attack are fighting for lives in a hospital and at least five homes have been left severely damaged. This incident reportedly happened in a village called Chandrapur under Kasba, Brahmanbaria on the night of December 31 last and was carried in a Bangla daily only yesterday. The remoteness of the village is responsible for the delayed publication of the news. But it is serious news no doubt.
It is known that a dispute over the boundary demarcation between the homesteads of a former UP member Milon Das and Jaher Mian was at the root of this communal violence. Jaher contrived to incite people of his community by making the announcement that the Hindus had attacked them. Now the question is, why did the Imam allowed Jahed to use the mike of the mosque for such a heinous purpose? Why did none of the neighbours come forward to protect the minority people? It was clear even to a child that the Hindus living in five homes dared not attack the majority community in the village. Then what prompted them to believe in the false claim made over the mike?
Should we then conclude that the two communities living side by side for about a thousand years in peace and harmony is nothing more than a myth? Or, the chasm on the line of communalism has widened since the alliance government took over? Is it the result of the communal frenzy unleashed immediately after the October election victory? Whatever may be the case, the government has done nothing to close the gap between the two communities since that attack. Still the Hindus are made to understand that they are merely second class citizens. This is not the only incident of attack on the minority community. Wherever and whenever communal attacks are carried out, the administrative action leaves much to be desired. The culprits are never punished enough so that it can be an effective deterrent to future communal violence.
If the administration is not sensitive enough to such issues, the communal and aggressive elements become hyperactive to press for the advantage they enjoy over the minority community. This is exactly happening today in Bangladesh. The politics of denial will not do. The fact is that a silent process of Hindu pogrom is at work in this country. In certain areas, the intimidation is so great that the minority communities are forced to leave the area or even the country. Quite a few reports were carried in different dailies to this effect. The Ahmadyias have been victimised unlawfully. Incidents of repression on the Hindus, scattered as they are, do not always make news. But the hard truth is that the country has become less tolerant than it was before.
The alliance government wants to upset the country's social tradition and customs and culture in the interest of its narrow political end. It is because of this the Islamist militancy has posed such a grave threat to the county's existence. Its secular culture too is under threat under this government. If the case was otherwise, it would have dealt the communal issues with an iron hand and proved its bona fide as an upholder of secularism.
Source: http://www.bangladeshobserveronline.com/new/2006/01/16/editorial.htm