Perpetrators of Bhola clash must be traced and punished

In an unfortunate incident, four people were killed when police opened fire during a rally at Borhanuddin of Bhola protesting the defamatory remarks against Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Sm) through a Facebook post. The law enforcing agencies claimed they fired in self-defence, but many of the locals believe that the incident could have been averted if the police were more cautious. It is positive that the local administration and the police held a meeting with two imams and persuaded them to postpone the prior scheduled programme. They should have also informed the local people of the decision. The local administration could have held a meeting with local representatives and Alems to tackle the situation.

The incident originated on Friday as the Facebook ID of certain Biplob Chandra was hacked and a post defaming the Prophet (Sm) was uploaded on his Facebook account. This angered the locals and under the banner of Towhidi Janata they organised a rally at the Borhanuddin Eidgah grounds at 11am on Sunday. But before the incident, Biplob filed a general diary with the local police station that his Facebook ID was hacked. Members of police took him into their custody. Two suspects were also detained in connection with the incident. After these measures, there was no justification in continuing the protest.

The questions remains, why was the rally held despite administrative steps. Vested quarters may cash in on this incident. After the incident, thr local MP, administration, law enforcing agencies and protesters under the banner of Sarbadaliya Islami Oikya Parishad held a meeting. The decision taken in the meeting is positive. We hope the negotiations will help bring the situation under control. The administration accepted the 6-point demand placed by Sarbadaliya Muslim Oikya Parishad. The demands include withdrawal of the superintendent of police from the district and officer-in-charge from the upazila, burial of the bodies without postmortem, treatment of the injured, financial assistance to the families of the deceased, release of the detained persons and punishment of the perpetrators. The administration can implement the five points of the demands.

If the administration takes a quick decision to implement the demands, the confidence of the people will be restored soon. It is irreparable loss that four people were killed. If the families of the deceased are compensated properly and the perpetrators are brought to book, it would be a consolation for the relatives of the victims. Earlier, vested quarters tried to hack thr Facebook IDs of two youths and disrupt the communal harmony in Ramu of Cox’s Bazar and Nasirnagar of Brahmanbaria.

We hope peace will be restored in Bhola and the administration will take necessary steps to ensure security of every one. A fair and credible investigation should be carried out regarding the incident. It is necessary to find out why the situation could not be tackled despite the administrative measures over the Facebook post. Anyone behind the incident should be traced and brought to book.