Title: Fear and insecurity still haunt them
Author:  
Publication: The Daily Star News
Date: Nov 11, 2001
URL: http://www.dailystarnews.com/200111/11/n1111101.htm#BODY8

Harrowing tales of depravity
Fear and insecurity still haunt them
Star investigation
Star Roving Team

From Bhola to Pirojpur, from Laxmipur to Jessore to Bagerhat, wherever The Daily Star roving teams went to investigate repression on the Hindus, the findings were strikingly and, frighteningly, similar.

All the Hindus had to say was how they had been subjected to looting, harassment, assault and, in some cases, rape.

It was quite clear that the attackers were after the valuables and lands of the Hindus. And, in the process, the Hindu women were an easy prey.

What struck the Daily Star teams most was the sheer inaction of the government to stop the atrocities and bring the criminals to book. The authorities almost closed their eyes to the mayhem.

Till date, the Hindus are living in great fear and insecurity. They had to endure all these tortures silently, for they did not feel it was safe to report to the police or the administration about the incidents due to intimidation by the attackers. And, the government and the local authorities stuck to the mere fact that such events had not been reported to them to prove their point that media reports are baseless or exaggerated.

The fact that the intimidation and attacks on the Hindus had been going on since the take-over of the caretaker government was no less shocking for The Daily Star teams. Such events were mostly concentrated in rural areas, especially in the remote areas far from immediate administrative jurisdiction.

The Hindu businessmen had to pay handsome amount of tolls to buy security of their establishments. Even that was no guarantee as scores of them were robbed. The poor families were forced to sell off their properties at a throwaway price.

Our team went to Rishipara of Monirampur thana in Jessore and came to know how the miscreants had laid siege to this pre-dominantly Hindu village at the dead of night. The perpetrators locked up the houses from outside and looted them one by one for two hours.

Naba Kumar Das, one of the victims of the village, narrated his story.

"I was sleeping on the veranda of my hut while my wife and three children slept inside the tiny hut on October 20. At around midnight, I woke up to the whispers of many voices. From the shadows came a group of about five unknown persons armed with machetes. The masked men identified themselves as policemen. They shoved me inside the hut and latched the room from outside. Then they went to other houses and did the same."

"About 15 to 20 minutes later, the masked men returned and started searching thoroughly my hut. They took away whatever they found."

Panchanan Kumar Das, Pabitra Kumar Das and many others recounted similar tale in horrified remembrance. From rubber slippers to old kathans (blankets), they lost everything to the looters.

"We bought new clothes for Durga Puja. But the attackers looted everything," said Pabitra.

Dhirendra Das, an octogenarian, said, "The attack was aimed at driving us out of our homes and grabbing our land."

Intimidation and psychological torture was perpetrated to damage the morale of the Hindus. "Youths verbally abuse me. They say I have no right to live here. They ask me to go to India and live there," said Dhirendra.

The neighbours kept mum when asked whether the miscreants harassed women. Only a middle-aged man said the girls were assaulted and robbed of their gold ornaments.

A man who had recently married confided that the attackers were furious to find that he had little money to offer. They pushed him out of the hut and closed the door on his face. His wife was inside the hut. His sobs told the rest of the story.

Prokriti Ranjan Misra, a senior teacher at Champerhat High School in Laxmipur, said miscreants have been demanding Tk 3 lakh from him.

Sushil Majumdar and Ashu Biswas of Champerhat village also alleged that terrorists had been asking for money to protect them. "Otherwise, they threatened to torch our houses", said Sushil.

At Gaokhali in Nazirpur thana under Pirojpur district, the team found the local temple under lock and key. Inside remained an unfinished Mondop with half-made deities of Kartik, Laxmi, Durga, Mahishashur, Saraswati and Ganesh.

Seventy-year old Nikunja Barai in Beltala said, "For the first time in my life, we could not celebrate (Durga) Puja."

Shatagun Mandal, a local farmer of east Sachia, about five kilometres from Gaokhali, was talking about the sleepless nights.

"We stay out at night by turn to guard ourselves. We had received several threats of abductions and toll collection after the election," said Mandal.

In Bhola, our team found damaged image of Goddess Saraswati at a local temple at Ruhita under Ali Nagar union in Sadar thana. The Hindus there also reported demands for tolls by terrorists.

"We tried to raise money to protect ourselves but we are so poor that hardly anything could be collected to satisfy the terrorists," Satyen, a resident of Ruhita, said.

At Borogaola village under Mollarhat thana in Bagerhat, Sumoti Malakar, 56, and her daughter, Tulu Mistry, 17, wife of Parimal Mistry, cannot forget the atrocities unleashed on them on October 4.

About 15 armed hoodlums swooped on the house where the mother and the daughter were sleeping. Parimal had fled the area fearing reprisal. Sumoti's husband had been missing for the last five years and was feared dead.

At around two in the morning, the miscreants broke into the roadside hut of this impoverished family. They gangraped the mother and the daughter at knifepoint for hours.

Both of the victims were too traumatised to talk about the nightmares they had been put through. But Parimal Mistry brought himself to narrate how brutally the victims were tortured and raped.

And, no action was taken against the rapists as the victims failed to recognise them.