By Sanjoy Kumar Barua
In a horrifying attack, a local journalist was hacked to death brutally by extremists in the Shambhuganj Bazar-Majhipara area of Bangladesh’s Mymensingh district on Saturday. The victim, Swapon Bhadra, 65, from the Hindu community, was involved with the local daily Doinik Swajan and was a vice president of the Tarakanda upazila Press Club in Mymensingh. Police could not ascertain the motive behind the killing immediately but said it resembles murders of people of different faiths and ideologies, according to a top police official seeking anonymity. Police have been investigating the incident, keeping in mind possible militant links, among other things, said the police official.
Swapon was left seriously injured and later died in hospital after being attacked by assailants in front of his house, said Azizul Islam, Mymensingh Superintendent of Police. Police have arrested one suspect, Md. Sagor, in conjunction with the elderly journalist’s murder. Following his writings, around one year ago, he had also been attacked but survived, said the victim’s family member. In social media, he stood against racially based attacks and incitement to violence on minority communities, said a local journalist seeking anonymity.
The extremists hacked him in the head, and his left wrist was severed, police said. This brutal murder is yet another reminder of the ongoing atrocities faced by Hindus in Bangladesh. “This is a harrowing time. There is no law and order while minority communities’ people are being targeted,” said Proshantho Roy, a local of the Chittagong district of Bangladesh.
At a press conference on September 18, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council reported 2,010 incidents of communal violence across the country from August 4 to 20. They included nine deaths, four rapes or gang rapes, and attacks on 69 places of worship, which were vandalized or set on fire. Additionally, 953 businesses were attacked, vandalized, looted, or burned. The organization also reported 38 cases of physical assault and 21 instances of illegal land and business seizures.
On Friday night, a firebomb was thrown at the Hindu Goddess at a temple during the Durga Puja festival in Dhaka’s Tantibazar area, creating panic among the devotees who thronged the temple. At least five people, including four devotees, were injured after being stabbed by muggers.
Source : The Chittagong Hill Tracts
