[Buddha-l] Bangladesh Muslim lovefest

[Dan Lusthaus]

Articles from the Daily Star, a Bangladesh newspaper.

166 held for Ramu violence
Two cases filed against 1,500 over Patiya violence, 4 upazilas still under 
Sec 144

Law enforcers have so far arrested 93 people in Cox's Bazar and 73 in 
Chittagong till Monday morning centring violence in Ramu that spread to 
Chittagong later.

Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir on Monday informed journalists about 
the arrests after inaugurating a training programme at APBn headquarters in 
the capital.

A mob destroyed 12 Buddhist temples and monasteries and more than 50 houses 
in Ramu upazila of Cox's Bazar early Sunday. The violence was apparently 
triggered by a Facebook posting of a photo defaming the holy Quran.

A correspondent from Cox's Bazar reports, 80 people have so far been 
arrested in different places of the district in connection with the 
violence....

read the rest at 
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=41297
Includes picture with the caption:
"A statue of Lord Buddha is left standing amidst the ruins of a temple burnt 
down by a violent mob at Ramu upazila in Cox's Bazar early Sunday. Photo: 
Focus BanglaStar Online Report"
--

also:
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=41297
Monday, October 1, 2012
Front Page
Ramu attack premeditated
Says home minister; points at local MP
Staff Correspondent

Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir yesterday said the violence in Ramu in 
Cox's Bazar centring an anti-Islam photo on Facebook is a "premeditated and 
deliberate act of communal violence against the minority".

The minister alleged local BNP lawmaker Lutfor Rahman had fuelled the 
violence, saying the MP neither met the visiting team from the capital nor 
visited the victims.

"This lawmaker used the people who went there to stage protests against the 
photo. He instigated them to launch an attack and kill the Buddhists," he 
said while talking to the press in Dhaka.

Earlier at 2:00pm, while addressing an impromptu rally at Choumuhani 
intersection in Ramu, he said, "We found evidence of gunpowder and petrol in 
Saturday's arson of the Buddhist monasteries and houses."

[...]

"We have been informed that police and fire service men were inactive during 
the arson," said the minister, adding that a committee headed by the 
additional divisional commissioner in Chittagong would be formed soon to 
investigate whether the law enforcers had remained inactive.

Alamgir in his speech also promised to rebuild the Buddhist monasteries and 
temples and compensate the victims whose houses were destroyed.

[re: the person whose facebook account contained the "inflammatory" picture]

On Uttom Kumar Barua's activities, he said, "Uttom shared the photo with his 
Facebook acquaintances. We have seen the photo and we are sure that Uttom 
did not create that."

"In the photo, we saw a foreigner woman who kept her foot on the holy book. 
So we assume the photo was supplied from abroad, but Uttom might have acted 
as their agent.

"He is an employee of Bangladesh Institute of Small Industry and Cottage 
[BISIC]. We are trying to know about his Facebook network," he added.

He said, "Uttom's Facebook account has been blocked. Police have taken his 
mother and sister in their custody. But we don't know his whereabouts."

[...]

"We have visited all the affected Buddhist monasteries and consoled the 
monks. We have assured them that the government will provide them with full 
security; nobody will further hurt them."

The affected people will get food and financial support, their houses and 
monasteries will be built by the government, the minister added.
--

For additional details,
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=251955

and politics as usual:
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=41298

Dan