Ensure justice for the victims of communal attacks

In a public hearing held on Sunday, victims of the recent communal attacks in the Chattogram region alleged that law enforcers stood silently by as looters went on with their mayhem at the puja mandaps during Durga Puja last month. According to the depositions of the victims, it was the failure of police and administrative officials to respond immediately to their calls for help that allowed the miscreants to carry out their atrocities unobstructed. These allegations are extremely disconcerting, and demand serious investigations by the relevant authorities.

The victims also alleged that police have yet to arrest the main culprits who are roaming free in their respective areas, issuing threats to withdraw cases against them. It is another case of victims being victimised again due to the inaction of law enforcers, which seems to have become all too common in Bangladesh. Despite the countrywide protests against the senseless violence that was carried out against minority communities, which led to government high-ups making big promises in terms of ensuring justice, the fact that law enforcers have yet to arrest the known criminals is alarming and raises a number of questions, such as: Who are protecting these criminals from being arrested, and why?

Some of the victims also alleged that the miscreants were not from the area—they were outsiders. They alleged that the miscreants tried to sever generator connections so that they could launch their attacks in the dark of the night, and that many of the miscreants organised themselves by meeting at the offices of the ruling Awami League's associate organisations. Not only do these allegations indicate that the attacks were well-organised, but that they were somewhat planned—and not a result of spontaneous outrage. 

Who were the masterminds behind these attacks? What were their intentions? These are questions that the authorities must answer. Moreover, the authorities must investigate and find out why the local law enforcers failed to act promptly when the violence was taking place, why they have failed to arrest many of the miscreants, and why some local government officials have been urging some of the victims to withdraw their cases. Without such actions, we fear that violence against minority communities, which has been on the rise in recent decades, will only continue, leading to the communal harmony in the country deteriorating further—all the while, the instigators and masterminds behind such attacks continue to roam free and pursue their twisted agendas.