Hathazari violence 2012 [Hathazari, Bangladesh]

[REPORTED AS SEEN]

On 9 February the Hindus in the area took out a procession to celebrate the anniversary of the foundation of the Lokenath Sebasram. When the procession was passing a mosque, Muslims in the mosque forbade them to drums. At one stage, someone hurled a brick bat on the procession. An altercation took place at once which turned into chase and counter-chase when someone from the procession responded by throwing a brick bat.

Police organised a meeting between the two parties which was allegedly delayed with ill-intention. A group of Muslims said that the meeting will be held in the mosque and the Hindus agreed.

The meeting started in the evening. Requesting anonymity, several of those who attended the meeting told that a handful of miscreants vandalised a temple on the Loknath Sebasram premises when the meeting was underway.

They also vandalised seven to eight cars of the temple’s visitors.

Muslims first vandalised a temple on the Loknath Sebasram premises when the meeting was underway. The idols and the temple premises were vandalised. At that night local Islamists named Emdad Ullah and Lokhman hired a construction worker named Mohammad Jasim to break down the wall of the local Mosque to divert away vandalisation of Lokhnath Temple.

Next day they spread the rumour that Hindus have destroyed the mosque.

Thousands of students of Darul Ulum Muinul Islam madrassah attacked the Raksha Kali Mandir at Hathazari and torching the temple after the madrassah students had said their juma prayers on the road.

The miscreants also vandalised seven temples out of eight at Nandirhat, including the Jalakumari Bari Mandir and Jagannath Bigraha Mandir, and Sita Kalibari temple at Hathazari.

The Muslims also vandalised about 50 houses of Hindu people, including Satya Saha, Sudarshan Chowdhury and Bishwanath Chowdhury, in the locality, said Loknath Sebashram secretary Ashesh Purahit and Satya Saha’s nephew Rana Saha.

500-strong Police contingent and four platoons of Border Guards Bangladesh personnel were deployed in the Upazila to control the condition. Section 144 was clamped on Hathazari on Friday, 10 February 2012.