The Catholic Church and Indigenous Christian leaders in Bangladesh have called on the authorities to protect families terrified by an attack on a Christian village and to bring those responsible to justice.
On Aug. 12, houses in the village of Gazarikura, a community in the Diocese of Mymensingh in the north of the Muslim-majority country, were attacked, looted, and vandalized. Local Indigenous Garo people said the stolen property included cash, cows, goats, and other valuables.
The Indigenous families said the attack and looting were carried out by people from a neighboring Muslim village after the body of a Muslim man was found in their village.
Father Simon Hacha, vicar general of the Diocese of Mymensingh, visited the village together with other priests, sisters, Garo Indigenous leaders, and local leaders.
"We never want unrest; we are for peace," Hacha, who is himself a Garo, told EWTN News.
"We pray for the soul of the deceased person around whom this problem has arisen and we offer our condolences to his family," he said.
He urged police not to harass those who are not guilty and to identify the culprits and take appropriate action.
"I hope that the administration will provide security to the Garo Indigenous of this village and that the villagers will maintain good relations with each other so that peace can prevail in the future," Hacha added.
Losses and arrests
Village leaders told EWTN News that six houses in Gazarikura were vandalized and that the furniture of one house was burned. The attackers took away seven cows, 10 goats, a motorcycle, cash, and expensive furniture. The incident spread panic among local residents.
Father Lawrence Ribeiro, the parish priest of Mariamnagar, told EWTN News by telephone during a visit to the village on Aug. 14 that 11 houses had been looted and that televisions, refrigerators, cows, and goats had been taken away. The families do not have enough food, he said. "So, we brought food, soap, and other items for these families."
Ribeiro said the families had been calculated to have suffered losses of about 4 million taka (about $32,000). "We are preparing to file a case of looting for this," he said.
The body of a rice trader, Billal Hossain, 40, was recovered by police. Nineteen people, including men and women from the Garo community, were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the case. Police later released 14 of them.
According to police sources, Hossain, a resident of the Jarultala area of the upazila, or subdistrict, went missing on Aug. 4. On the afternoon of Aug. 12, local farmers working in a field smelled a foul odor near a canal, searched the surroundings, and found the body buried in the ground. Police went to the spot and recovered it after being informed.
An organization of Garo Indigenous students said in a statement: "We want to say very clearly that the responsibility for the crime of an individual can never be imposed on an entire ethnic group, community, or population."
"If someone is involved in any crime, his involvement will be determined through an impartial and fair investigation. If the crime is proven, he will be tried according to the prevailing law. But suspecting, harassing, or victimizing another innocent person on the basis of an individual's identity, ethnic identity, or community identity is against justice," the student organization said.
S.M. Noor Mohammad, officer in charge of the Jhenaigati police station, said the atmosphere in the village is now calm and that police have been deployed.
"The police are investigating the incident and are continuing their efforts to identify the criminals involved in the incident," Mohammad said.
On Aug. 9, Indigenous people had rallied for their rights and to protest atrocities against them on the occasion of the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples.
