HINDU POST: A Muslim
man, Iqbal Hossain,
deliberately kept Quran at
Durga Puja mandap in
Cumilla: B’desh Police
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By HinduPost Desk, October 21, 2021
Hindus of a village in Rangpur break down in tears
after Muslim zealots torched their houses and looted
cash and valuables. Losing their homes in the
attacks, 66 families in Boro Karimpur village of the
district’s Pirganj upazila are now living under the
open sky. The perpetrators also vandalised two shops
and two temples in the area. Photo: Collected/
Kongkon Karmaker.
Bangladesh police have identified a man, Iqbal
Hossain (35), who deliberately kept a Quran at the
Durga Puja mandap in Cumilla that triggered a anti-
Hindu pogrom in various parts of the country for one
week, leaving several people dead, raped, injured
and hundreds of Hindu temples, homes and shops
vandalized.
Hossain, son of Nur Ahmed Alam, is from Suzanagar
area of Cumilla city. Cumilla superintendent of
police (SP) Faruk Ahmed said he was identified by
examining CCTV footage.
Ahmed told Bangladeshi news outlet Prothom
Alo on Wednesday evening that a manhunt is
underway to arrest Iqbal Hosssain.
Iqbal Hossain, the man
who deliberately placed a Quran in a Durga Puja
pandal to trigger pre-planned mass violence against
Hindus in Bangladesh
The Quran was seen at a makeshift puja mandap set
up on the north bank of Nanua Dighirpar on the
occasion of Durga Puja ashtami (eight day of the 10-
day festival) on 13 October. After that, a group of
people attacked the mandap and vandalised it
indiscriminately on allegation of ‘desecration of
Quran’.
From Cumilla, the anti-Hindu violence spread like
wildfire to Hajiganj in Chandpur, Naokhali, Rangpur
and several other districts. Hindu temples, puja
mandaps, homes and businesses were torched,
vandalised and looted all over the country. At least
10 Hindus were killed, including 2 ISKCON monks
and 7 priests in total, and 23 women have been raped
as per some reports.
A 10-year-old girl, her aunt and grandmother were
all gang-raped in Hajiganj – the child died due to her
injuries as per human rights activists and at least one
media outlet, although police have dismissed the entire incident as a ‘rumor’.
According to Prothom Alo, several teams of police
from Dhaka and Cumilla conducted investigation for
the past week following the Culmilla incident.
CCTV footages were analysed and identification of
Iqbal Hossain was confirmed after a thorough
investigation.
Police said Iqbal Hossain is a ‘vagabond’ but
whether he is involved with any political party has
not been ascertained as yet.
But the anti-Hindu violence hasn’t completely stopped even now. Hindus have been attacked in Ghoshaildanga, Chittagong, known for its grand
Durga Puja. Stones were pelted and an unfinished
pandal for the upcoming Kali Puja was destroyed. A
Hindu house was burnt down in Raozan upazila of
Chittagong district yesterday. Distressing videos of
fanatics destroying temples and breaking murtis are
pouring in.
Fabricated blasphemy allegations are a favorite tool
used to unleash pre-planned violence against Hindus
and other minorities by fundamentalist Islamic
organizations in Bangladesh, as we
have covered previously.
Provocative announcements from mosques and
sermons delivered during Friday prayers played the
usual part they always do in such pogroms.
Police complicity and Islamist ring-leaders still
not arrested
Cumilla Police has only confirmed what was widely
reported right from the outset by Bangladesh
minority rights watchers. A local resident near the
Cumilla Durga Puja pandal where the Quran was
deliberately placed had written a Facebook post that
he noticed how there were miscreants placing the
Quran near the Sri Hanuman murti.
Shockingly, he wrote that the police noticed but did
nothing. The Hindu pandit was requesting them to
stop & remove the Quran but it was too late. The
administration came to stop the Hindus from
continuing with Puja but they resisted and refused to
stop. Then, emboldened by the administration’s
attitude, the miscreants started breaking the Puja
mandapa. Videos & images started popping up.
Elaborate posters started appearing immediately
after as part of a premeditated & well planned
pogrom.
Bangladesh has faced unprecedented international
outrage over this recent pogrom, unlike in the past.
Although it is true that police have clashed with
Islamist protestors at some places and shot some of
them dead, it is also true that police response was
apathetic at many places. The arrest of one Iqbal
Hossain is not enough – a serious investigation
must be done to prosecute the ring-leaders who
planned all of this, the clerics who instigated
Muslims from mosques and the politicians-police
officials who gave their tacit support.
Meaningful efforts must also be made by the Sheikh
Hasina government to de-radicalize Bangladeshi
society. As the insightful
handle @storiesofBH informs us
“Watch out when the media will try to pinpoint the
entire October 2021 Bangladesh anti-Hindu riots on
Iqbal Hossain, and focus on his drug addiction. It
was thousands of college students, neighbours,
members of administration & media who attacked
Hindus & whitewashed these crimes.
It was thousands of normal people who used the
opportunity of violence and chaos in entire country
to attack Hindus, by fabricating more excuses. Do
NOT tell us that these people were uneducated and
not real Muslims. All of them attacked after Maghrib
salat or Jumma Namaz.
It was thousands and thousands of educated Muslims
commenting on Facebook that attacking Hindus was
justified because of the assumption that Hindu had
defamed their holy book. It was educated and even
diaspora Muslims who were calling the attacks fake
news.”
Congressman KrishnamoorthiForcefully Condemns Violent Attacks
On Hindus Celebrating Durga Puja In Bangladesh
SCHAUMBURG, IL – Congressman Raja
Krishnamoorthi issued the following statement in
response to the targeting of Hindu celebrants of
Durga Puja in Bangladesh, during its worst
communal violence in years:
““The violent attacks on Hindus celebrating Durga
Puja, including in their own houses of worship, is an
escalation of the longstanding violent threat posed to
Bangladesh’s religious minorities. While Prime
Minister Sehikh Hasina has pledged aggressive
action to combat the violence, prevent additional
attacks, and bring those responsible to justice, these
promises must be fulfilled to protect Bangladesh’s
Hindus and all other minorities.”