Attack on Buddhists
Couldn’t happen without intelligence knowledge
Says NHRC chief
Head of National Human Rights Commission Prof Mizanur Rahman yesterday said the attack on Buddhists in Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong was pre-planned and could not take
place without prior knowledge of the intelligence agencies.
“The government must investigate the incident, as the violent attack and vandalism of temples could not occur without the knowledge of the intelligence agencies and
the local administration,” he told a seminar, “Universal Periodic Review: Rights of the People’s of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)”, at Dhaka University Senate
Bhaban.
He also said, “The violence on Buddhists has demeaned us before the world and questioned the spirit of secularism in the constitution. The pictures of the ruined
statues of Gautama Buddha published in the newspapers represent a bloodstained face of Bangladesh.”
Pointing to the fifteenth amendment to the constitution, Prof Mizanur said such incidents were taking place due to paradoxical provisions in the constitution because
secularism and the state religion could not go together.
Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director, Transparency International Bangladesh, demanded a judicial probe into the Ramu violence.
Dhaka University Professor Meshbah Kamal, Manusher Jonno Foundation Executive Director Shaheen Anam, and NHRC Honorary Member Prof Niru Kumar Chakma, among others,
spoke on the occasion.
-With The Daily Star input
