Rioters torch Buddhist temples, homes in Bangladesh

[Ensapa]

Here's some sad and disturbing news. The Buddhist minority in Bangladesh has been attacked and discriminated against for being Buddhist, after a Buddhist person posted something insulting to Islam on his facebook. Perhaps, this is exactly why the Buddha said that right speech and right conduct is important. Due to the recklessness of one Buddhist, the rest of the Buddhists in his country suffers.

Rioters torch Buddhist temples, homes in Bangladesh
Bangkok Post, Sept 30, 2012
Ramu, Bangladesh -- Thousands of rioters torched Buddhist temples and homes in southeastern Bangladesh Sunday over a photo posted on Facebook deemed offensive to Islam, in a rare attack against the community.


<< The burnt Buddhist temple of Shima Bihar in Ramu. Thousands of rioters have torched Buddhist temples and homes in southeastern Bangladesh over a photo posted on Facebook deemed offensive to Islam, in a rare attack against the community.

Officials said the mob comprising some 25,000 people set fire to at least five Buddhist temples and dozens of homes in Ramu town and its adjoining villages, some 350 kilometres (216 miles) from the capital Dhaka.

The rioters claimed the photo allegedly defaming the Koran was uploaded on Facebook by a Buddhist man from the area, district administrator Joinul Bari said.

"They became unruly and attacked Buddhist houses, torching and damaging their temples from midnight to Sunday morning," he told AFP.


 "At least 100 houses were damaged. We called in army and border guards to quell the violence," he said, adding that authorities had temporarily banned public gatherings in the area to prevent further clashes.
It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties, and authorities did not say if any of the rioters were arrested.

The country's home minister, industries minister and national police chief rushed to the scene Sunday morning.

Police officer Rumia Khatun said about "25,000 Muslims chanting God is Great" first attacked a Buddhist hamlet in Ramu, torching centuries-old temples, and later stormed Buddhist villages outside the town.

Witnesses said the rioters left a trail of devastation at the Buddhist villages.

"I have seen 11 wooden temples, two of them 300 years old, torched by the mob. They looted precious items and Buddha statues from the temples. Shops owned by Buddhists were also looted," said Sunil Barua, a local journalist on the scene.

Barua, himself a Buddhist, said 15 Buddhist villages were attacked and more than 100 houses were looted and damaged. "The villages look like as if they were hit by a major cyclone," he told AFP by phone.

Buddhists, who make up less than one percent of Bangladesh's 153 million population, are based mainly in southeastern districts, close to the border with Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Sectarian tensions have been running high since June when deadly clashes erupted between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

Although Bangladesh, where nearly 90 percent people are Muslims, has witnessed deadly clashes between Muslims and Hindus in the past, sectarian clashes involving Buddhists are rare.

In recent weeks tens of thousands of Muslims have hit the street across the country to protest a US-made anti-Islam mocking the prophet Mohammed.

[bambi]

I really feel disturbed when I saw the pictures on the web. The first thing that came to mind was the amount of negative karma that those people have created by causing hurt to the 3 Jewels. I am sorry but why must religion be something that you can use as an excuse to hurt other people? No religion teach you to be cruel and hateful... If indeed you are mad, please take it out by being more forgiving and kinder... Forgive those who have done wrong. I believe all religions have that teaching. 

[Midakpa]

Religion is a very sensitive issue in every multiethnic, multicultural and multireligious country. That is why it is very important to respect one another's religion and not create tension and riots such as the one described in this article. Tolerance must be practiced if we want peace to come to this earth. The Buddha said that "hatred does not cease by hatred; by love alone does it cease." This is the Buddha's advice to men who preach antagonism and ill-will. It is the only method to solve the problem. The man who posted the insults to Islam in his facebook is, in my opinion, not a Buddhist as he is not following Buddhist principles of tolerance and self-restraint. I hope the Buddhist leaders in Bangladesh will be able to solve this problem by explaining what Buddhism teaches.

[Amitabha]

Religion is not sensitive, it's the people mind not understanding the beauty of being people. Religion touches the heart of many sufferers. Temple is just external matter for common gathering on learning and practice, no issue at all, the news broadcasted is good as the Buddha statue developing buddha seed to people who see, read, and hear it. Buddhists should know karma of the past, present and future and live comfortably and unannoying. Buddhism place important on the holistic mind of common harmony and peace as the fundamental for developing Bodhi mind same as Buddha 

[Ensapa]

I really feel disturbed when I saw the pictures on the web. The first thing that came to mind was the amount of negative karma that those people have created by causing hurt to the 3 Jewels. I am sorry but why must religion be something that you can use as an excuse to hurt other people? No religion teach you to be cruel and hateful... If indeed you are mad, please take it out by being more forgiving and kinder... Forgive those who have done wrong. I believe all religions have that teaching. 

sometimes, people will always be people and they will not change irregardless of religion. That is the reason why the Buddha has advised us against provoking them in the first place by guarding our body, speech and mind. In fact, all unenlightened beings should not be provoked which is the reason why the Buddha said that our understanding of karma coupled with the holding of our ethics can free us from suffering. It is just the nature of samsara and in samsara when you make a mistake or create the causes for undesirable results, you  will have to face those results without exception. I find this news very saddening and shocking as well, not only because of how the Buddhists are being destroyed, but also that all of this came upon because of one man's callousness at sharing that offensive picture.

[Ensapa]

Seems like the thai monks are protesting against this and I do find it a good reason to protest as it is for a good cause and not for political reasons.

Monk protest in Bangkok against Bangladesh unrest
CNA, October 4, 2012
BANGKOK, Thailand -- About 300 Buddhist monks demonstrated in the Thai capital Bangkok on Wednesday against recent attacks by Muslim mobs targeting temples and houses in Bangladesh.


<< Bangladeshi monks studying Buddhism in Thailand display signs and pictures of destruction in their country as they hold a demonstration calling for an end to attacks against Buddhist communities in Bangladesh, in front of the United Nations regional office in Bangkok. (AFP - Christophe Archambault)

Holding signs reading "No More Violence We Want Peace" and "Stop Muslim Terrorism on Bangladesh Buddhist", the monks from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand massed outside the UN offices to call for a probe into the unrest.

"We don't want to blame anyone, but we want this barbaric incident to stop because now Buddhist followers have to seek protection from police around the clock," one of the event organisers, Kanraya Tasanasarit, told AFP.

Bangladesh police said Tuesday they had arrested nearly 300 people in connection with the violence, which saw Buddhist temples and homes damaged or set on fire.

Buddhists, who make up less than one per cent of Bangladesh's 153 million mostly Muslim population, are based mainly in southeastern districts, close to the border with Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Sectarian tensions have been running high since June when deadly clashes erupted between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

[Ensapa]

Here's an opinion piece on this subject matter. With the amount of articles that actually cover this incident, it is pretty clear that this incident has provoked the ire and fear of many Buddhists: but they forgot that religion that the followers are in does not represent the followers, if they act in ways that contradict their religious values. It is not about religion, it is rather how the followers misrepresent it.

Religious sensitivities no excuse for violence in Muslim world
The Globe and Mail, Oct 2 2012
Ramu, Bangladesh -- Religious sensitivities cannot be used to justify violent attacks. A perceived insult against one’s faith is simply not an excuse for breaking the law. And it is not an excuse to persecute people with different religious beliefs.
The looting and destruction of Buddhist temples and monasteries in Bangladesh by thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims is the latest example of this dangerous and warped way of thinking.

The mob’s rationale: they were angry about a photo of a burned Koran allegedly posted on Facebook by a Buddhist boy. While these protesters demand respect for their religion, where is their respect for the religion of others?

The Buddhist minority in Bangladesh, a country of 150 million, has traditionally coexisted peacefully within the majority Muslim society; however, there are now fears of further sectarian violence. For its part, the government blamed the attack on Islamists, as well as on Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

But the incident is not an isolated one; it comes on the heels of last month’s protests in Muslim countries over the offensive depiction of the Prophet Mohammed in a low-budget film produced by an Egyptian Copt living in the U.S.


 This pattern of intolerance is alarming, and should concern religious leaders, as much as governments, because the violence is being committed in the name of Islam, and subverts what the religion actually stands for. Of course, minority religions across vast swaths of the world are subject to attacks, but religious minorities in the Muslim world, including Baha’is, Ahmadis, Zoroastrians and others, are particularly vulnerable because of the failure in many countries to guarantee freedom of religion, as well as the rise of Islamist governments in the wake of the Arab spring.
In Egypt, Christian Copts are concerned about the erosion of their religious rights. In Pakistan, the country’s blasphemy laws were recently used to arrest a Christian girl with mental disabilities who was accused of desecrating the pages of the Koran. A furious mob demanded she be punished. Last year, the country’s national Minister for Minorities – a Christian and a critic of the blasphemy law – was shot dead, In Nigeria, churches in the North have been destroyed by Boko Haram, the militant group trying to establish an Islamic state.

These acts of persecution against should be condemned. Entire communities should not have live in terror that a perceived insult of one’s faith will prompt indefensible acts of aggression.

[rossoneri]

Is a sad sad day for all of us, we as an human being shall act and behave like one and should not use violence at any cause....ideality speaking. More over it is just a picture posted by one particular individual, as an adult or "saint person" why can't we forgive that individual? Why only practice forgiveness once a year? We can forgive our family and friends, why can't we do the same? It is so sad that some of the attackers didn't know what are they doing? Came all the way from another town by bus and started attacking innocent people and burning down temple which is very, very bad for their karma....i can't imagine how heavy it is....OM MANI PADME HUNG

Why used religion as a tool or method to make yourself look good and showing off power. Religion is method for all of us to learn, learn to be a better person and show how caring we are for each other. May all these nonsense be stopped immediately...

[Tenzin K]

Do these Muslims all claim to have seen and been personally insulted by the image? No. Do they even know what the image shows? Perhaps, but there's no evidence of that. All we seem to have is an accusation being made on top of already-existing anger and outrage - and, presumably, poor relations between Buddhists and Muslims.

At least, I hope the relations between the communities was already poor or fragile. If this is how Muslims in Bangladesh treat people they already like, I'd say it's time for every non-Muslim to flee the country and find somewhere safer to live.

"We brought the situation under control before dawn and imposed restrictions on public gatherings," said Salim Mohammad Jahangir, Cox's Bazar district police superintendent. ...

Sohel Sarwar Kajal, the Muslim head of the council in the area where the arson took place, said he was trying to restore communal peace.

"We are doing everything possible to quell tension and restore peace between the communities," he told reporters.

Source: Reuters
Not all Muslims can be blamed for this, but Islam and the culture which it has fostered in this region can certainly be held as being partially responsible. Just about every religion objects to some degree to things labeled as blasphemous or insulting, but Islam has been going to much greater lengths in this regard.

Put bluntly, Islam in many places is causing people to be killed over alleged insults. This means religious feelings are being made more important than human lives, which is putting Islam in these places in the category of anti-human and anti-life ideologies. No ideology which says that human lives are worth less than someone's religious feelings or religious beliefs is a system that deserves even a modicum of respect.

[Jessie Fong]

It is sad that one has to resort to burning the temple.  Just goes to show how low people can stoop to vent their anger over another person from a different religious faith.  No one should deface any thing that is religious, whether from your own faith or another's. Could we be seeing this as just a personal attack, fueled by rage and anger, culminating in this blasphemous act?

I would like to think that whenever such acts are carried out in the name of religion is that person/s perception of taking action that he deems correct --- no religion ever teaches you to resort to violence to solve an issue.

[dondrup]

It is indeed sad to hear about the attacks on the Buddhist temples and the Buddhist communities in Bangladesh.

The person who had posted the offensive photo on Facebook is simply ignorant and has no concern for others’ sensitivities.  How could a Buddhist behave like this?  His action is no different than the producer who made a video from USA recently that had offended the Muslims around the World.  His action not only had caused so much damage and suffering to the Buddhist communities, it had also caused the rioters to perform negative deeds against the Buddhists and temples in Bangladesh!  These rioters will be subject to Karmic consequences due to their actions.

On the other hand, it is also the collective karma of the Buddhist communities in Bangladesh to have experienced the attack.

[pgdharma]

It is indeed very sad and shocking to hear of these attacks. The Buddha, a fully awakened being, will not get angry because the statues are destroyed and the temples burned down as they are devoid of hatred, anger or ego. However, due to the terrible unskilled deeds as an act of  revenge done by some people  because of their pride, ignorance and ego, these people  will reap what they sow according to the law of karma.

[sonamdhargey]

Wow! A Buddhist man from that area who allegedly uploaded a photo on Facebook defaming the Koran can create such a big lash back. What different are they from that so called Buddhist man then? These so called religious people acted like barbarians just because they felt that some Buddhist has insulted their Koran. They show their wrath on the Buddhist community just because one man from that Buddhist area posted something defaming the Koran? How small their minds are.  I'm so gald that I'm a Buddhist and not be like these barbarians. These people need to learn Dharma.

[Ensapa]

Here's an update on what is happening to this issue now:

   
 

Home > Asia Pacific > South Asia > Blangladesh

Attack on Buddhist Temples premeditated: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Asiantribune.com, October, 7, 2012
Dhaka, Bangladesh -- Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said the violent attack on Buddhist monasteries and houses at Ramu in Cox's Bazar centring an anti-Islam photo on Facebook was a premeditated , reports the ‘Daily Star’. No one linked to the recent attacks on Buddhists will be spared, she has said assuring the minorities of Bangladesh.
She told this to the Buddhists while addressing a meeting with ‘Coordination Committee of Bangladeshi Buddhists’ in the morning at her official residence Gono Bhaban.

Recalling her visit to the Buddhist temples in Ramu and Cox's Bazar, she said, 'how they can destroy these beautiful statues and historic sculpture'?

The Buddhist delegation, led by Shuddhananda Mahathero, informed the Prime Minister about its findings from its own investigation into the attacks on Buddhists and their establishments by religious fanatics in Ramu on Sep 29 and in Ukhia and Teknaf the following day.

The premier said those, who were behind the attack, will be punished after identifying them from the video footages collected after the violence.“The way in which the attack was conducted, it’s clear that it was done in a pre-planned way,” she said.


 The temples damaged in the attacks would be rebuilt, the Prime Minister assured the Buddhists. She also assured that the victims would get compensation. Around 250 people have been arrested over the attacks. Ramu Police Station Officer in Charge has been withdrawn and a four-member panel has also been formed for conducting an investigation reports bdnews24.com
"Please show restrain, I assure you that none link with the heinous crime will be spared," she told

The Prime Minister also urged people of all other religious groups to remain alert against repetition of any such occurrence in future anywhere in the country.

Sheikh Hasina said, "I think its not the end. The hoodlums have many ill motives and they might create many anarchies in the days ahead. So, I request every citizen to remain careful to thwart any such plot ."

She said, "I cannot understand how they can be so inhumane. They have no only attacked people, they also destroyed our long heritage, tradition and historical relics of Buddhism".

She assured the Buddhist community leaders of providing necessary assistance to make ready the destroyed monasteries for prayers before their 'Prabarana Purnima' at the end of this month and rehabilitation of the affected families including rebuilding of the houses gutted.

Member Secretary of the Committee Ashok Barua told her that a five-member panel led by former Inspector General of Police P R Barua , who is also vice president of Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities ( HRCBM) , an NGO in special consultative status with ECOSOC of the United Nations, Bangladesh Chapter was investigating the matter.

The Buddhist delegation informed the Prime Minister about the findings of their own investigations on the attacks in Ramu and Ukhiya on September 29 and in Patiya on the following day."In our investigation, we found three motives behind the attack. These are- making the Rohingya issue more troublesome,foiling the trial of the war criminals and making the country unstable before next general election," the report they submitted to the Prime Minister said reports BSS.

They requested the Prime Minister to take the issues into consideration during official investigation into the matter. They also thanked Prime Minister for her quick response and action from the government to check further eruption of the violence.

The Prime Minister said, a section of people cannot tolerate peaceful co-existence of all religions. In 2001, they tried to destroy the communal harmony. Now they are trying again to kill the communal harmony.

The Prime Minister urged all to show their patience and tolerance, and remain careful to check any such occurrence. She asked all to stay alert during the coming religious festivals of all communities.

Sanghanayak Suddhananda Mohathero said the attack was to destroy the communal harmony in Bangladesh. The miscreants set fire on 25 monasteries out of which 12, some of 400 years old, were gutted completely. The fire destroyed many relics of Lord Buddha, he said adding the criminals used inflammables, gunpowder and explosives.

Deputy Leader of the Jatiya Sangsad Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Industries Minister Dilip Barua, Home Minister MK Alamgir, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, member secretary of the UBCPC Ashoke Barua, Buddhist community leaders P K Barua, Dr Pranab Barua, Dr Uttam Barua, Barrister Biplob Barua and heads of different monasteries were present.

Forgive us, please

The National Human Rights Commission chairman yesterday apologised to the Buddhist community for the recent communal violence that left 12 Buddhist temples burnt down.

"We are ashamed, aggrieved, sorry and asking for your forgiveness," Mizanur Rahman told a crowd while visiting Shima Bihar temple at Ramu in Cox's Bazar.

Satyapriya Mohathero, principal of the temple, told the NHRC chief though they are Bengali and gave shelters to Hindus and Muslims in his area during the Liberation War, they fell victim to such violence.

The monastery, which was not only a temple but also a museum of the history of Buddhism, had been lost forever, Mohathero continued reports the daily star.

BNP Inquiry Team

An eight-member probe body of Zia’s BNP formed to investigate the violence visited the burnt monasteries at Ramu.The team led by barrister Moudud Ahmed later, told reporters that they did not go there as a political team. As it was a sensitive issue, they were trying to make an impartial probe. In reply to a question regarding the allegation of the home minister on the role of local BNP lawmaker, Moudud said he would not make any comment on the issue now, reports the Daily Star.

[Ensapa]

Sure...blame it on the opposition, but more could have been done to protect the people. This is not really acceptable. But at least they are doing something to protect the surviving Buddhists.

MERUNGLUA, Bangladesh (AP) — Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government is blaming Islamic radicals and opposition activists for attacks over the weekend on minority Buddhists and their temples in southern Bangladesh.

‘‘In primary investigations, we have found that organized radical Islamic groups attacked the houses and places of worship,’’ Home Minister Mohiudddin Khan Alamgir told reporters after a visit to the scene on Sunday. ‘‘Activists of the opposition parties were also among the attacks.’’

Alamgir accused local opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker Lutfar Rahman Kajal of instigating the attack, a charge denied by the opposition legislator.

Hundreds of Buddhists fled their southern Bangladesh villages in the wake of attacks by Muslims who burned at least 10 Buddhist temples and 40 homes in anger over a Facebook photo of a burned Quran.

The Buddhists started returning home Monday amid heightened security and more than 160 arrests.

Mahmud Ali, a local reporter in southern Ramu where the violence occurred, said some local villagers blamed minority Rohingya Muslims for the violence, but the minister made no comment on this allegation.

‘‘We will find the culprits as soon as possible,’’ he said during the visit when he talked to affected Buddhists.

In another development, main opposition BNP leader Khaleda Zia in a statement Monday accused the government administration of failing to protect the minority Buddhists.

She said she feared that the government may use the violence as an excuse to crack down on the opposition.

‘‘There may be a well-planned ill motive behind the incidents,’’ she said.

No new violence was reported on Monday.

Army soldiers, paramilitary border guards and police were deployed, and the government has banned all public gatherings in the troubled areas near the southern border with Myanmar, said Lt. Col. Jaed Hossain, a military commander who was helping to install tents for displaced Buddhists.

‘‘They are coming back. We are giving them protection,’’ Hossain said at Merunglua village in the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar on Monday.

Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir told reporters in Dhaka on Monday that security officials detained 166 people in Cox’s Bazar and neighboring Chittagong district in connection with the attacks.

Hossain said about 1,000 Buddhist families fled their homes after the attacks were launched late Saturday. As the unrest continued through early Sunday, many Buddhist-owned homes and shops were looted. Nojibul Islam, a Cox’s Bazar police chief, said at least 20 people were injured.

Many in the impoverished neighborhood of Merunglua lost everything.

‘‘I was in my shop. They suddenly came and set my shop on fire,’’ grocery owner Prodip Barua told The Associated Press. ‘‘I started running and took my two children and wife from my home and fled the area.’’

He knew his shop had been burned to ashes, but when he returned Monday he was shocked to see that his home was also destroyed.

‘‘How will I survive now? How will I send my children to schools?’’ he sobbed. ‘‘I have lost everything.’’

The government has pledged to rebuild the victims’ homes.

Home Minister Alamgir said after visiting the area that the affected people would get security and support from the government.

The attacks began after a photo of a burned copy of the Muslim holy book was posted on Facebook. The rioters blamed the photo on a 25-year-old local Buddhist, though it was not immediately clear if he actually posted the photo.

Only about 300,000 Bangladeshis, or about 0.2 percent of the country’s 150 million people, are Facebook users.

Bangladesh’s English-language Daily Star newspaper quoted the man blamed for the photos as saying that someone else mistakenly tagged it on his Facebook profile. The newspaper reported that soon after the violence started, the man’s Facebook account was closed and police escorted him and his mother to safety.

Joinul Bari, chief government administrator in Cox’s Bazar, said authorities detained the man’s parents and were investigating.

Buddhists make up less than 1 percent of Muslim-majority Bangladesh, but followers of the two religions usually coexist peacefully. Some of the Buddhist families displaced by the attacks took shelter at the homes of Muslim neighbors, and on Monday, many Muslim families offered food to the victims.

The Bangladeshi violence follows protests that erupted in Muslim countries over the past month after a low-budget film produced by a U.S. citizen denigrated the Prophet Muhammad by portraying Islam’s holiest figure as a fraud, womanizer and child molester. Some two dozen demonstrators have been killed in protests that attacked symbols of U.S. and the West, including diplomatic compounds.