No 'Fanush' this year: Buddhists
Mon, Oct 15th, 2012 5:18 pm BdST
Chittagong, Oct 15 (bdnews24.com) – 'Fanush' (hot-air balloons) will not
be set afloat this year during the Prabarana Purnima celebrations, as the
Buddhists decides to skip the ritual from their second largest religious
festival, protesting the communal attack on their community in Cox's Bazar and
Chittagong.
"To protest the barbaric attacks on and arson of Buddhist monasteries
and settlements, Buddhists in Bangladesh will refrain from setting afloat
'Fanushes' during the Prabarana Purnima celebrations," Bangladesh Combined
Buddhist Council chief Ajit Ranjan Barua said at a press meet in Chittagong on
Monday after finishing his tour of the affected areas.
Besides skipping the hot-air balloons, one of the key attractions of the
festival, the Buddhist Community will also be toning down the celebrations of
the two-day Kothin Chibor Dan festival and will scrap all cultural programmes.
"The establishments that portrayed the heritage of Ramu's
century-old civilisation and culture have been destroyed due to the inaction of
the administration to prevent the incident in time. Miscreants destroyed the
monasteries and Buddha sculptures and escaped from right under the
administration's nose," Barua continued reading out from a written
statement.
Enraged reportedly over a Facebook post denigrating the Quran, religious
zealots attacked Buddhist temples, monasteries, residences and shops in Cox's
Bazar's Ramu upazila on Sept 29.
They vandalised, looted and set them on fire. The communal attacks
spread the next day with similar occurrences taking place in Chittagong's Patia
and Cox's Bazar's Ukhia and Teknaf.
Claiming that the Buddhist community in Bangladesh was still living in
fear, Barua placed an eight-point charter of demands to the government.
They include keeping police, RAB and BGB personnel deployed at all
Buddhist monasteries in the country, and estimate the damages to those attacked
and restore them. The demands also included punishment to the then Ramu Police
Station's Officer in Charge if direct or indirect links are found between him
and the incident.
The Buddhist community also demanded withdrawal of his replacement, who
according to them is also another 'dubious' character.
The demands also include punishment to those responsible and organising
an all-party peace conference in Ramu to bridge the divide between Buddhists
and Muslims.
Meanwhile, Buddhist religious leader Dr Bikiran Prasad Barua, responding
to queries about the possible intentions of attack, said, "The attack was
carried out only on Buddhist establishments, not on any Buddhist Bhikkhu's or
person."
He added the attack was premeditated and that the eyewitness knew many
of the attackers, but were not naming them to avoid hassles.
When questioned about BNP's probe report, the religious leader said,
"This is a political matter, we don't want to comment on it."
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