Attacks on minorities continue in Bangladesh, 17 houses of Christians set ablaze on Christmas eve

Bangladesh, which has been surfacing in the news often over the last few months because of reports on atrocities against minority communities in the country, is again hogging headlines after 17 houses of Christian community in Notun Tongjhiri Tripura Para in Chittagong Hill Tracts were torched on the Christmas eve.

As per reports, several houses were set ablaze by miscreants around 12:30 am when the residents had gone to a nearby village to attend the midnight mass at a church.

A report by The Daily Star cited officials as saying that 17 out of 19 houses of the Christian Tripura community were completely gutted in fire, the other two were partially damaged.

Arson could be linked to ’long-running’ rivalry

The villagers told the police that “unidentified” people had set their houses on fire, but Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in Bangladesh, citing preliminary investigation, claimed the arson could be linked to a “long-running rivalry between two groups of the (same) community”.

Four people have been arrested so far for their alleged connection in the incident.

Further condemning the incident, the Bangladesh interim government claimed that a community elder, on whose complaint an FIR was registered, blamed six rival Christian community members and a Bengali Muslim for the arson. The cops were directed to “unearth the motive behind the attack at the earliest,” it further said.

Villagers demand ’exemplary punishment'

“I never dreamed such a situation would happen on Christmas… We demand exemplary punishment of the criminals," The Daily Star report quoted Gungamani Tripura, a victim, as saying.

The Tongijhiri area had been inhabited by the Tripura community for generations. Resident there said that a few years ago, during the Awami League regime, they were forcibly evacuated when some claimed the area was leased to the wife of a police officer. Trees were planted in the village after the eviction.

Paisapru Tripura, head of the new Tongjhiri, stated they had lived there for three or four generations. A group claiming to be “SP’s men" forced them out four to five years ago.

The “SP’s men" allegedly said the land was leased to Benazir Ahmed’s wife, who was the inspector general of police at the time. After the Awami League government collapse, the Tripura community returned and began building new houses and started living there.

With inputs from agencies.