Demo in Dhaka protesting monk killing

Bangladesh Buddhist Federation today formed a human chain in Dhaka protesting the gruesome killing of a monk in Bandarban two days ago.

Demonstrators, at the chain near Jatiya Press Club, condemned the killing and urged a swift arrest of the perpetrators and bringing them to book.

Buddhist Monk U Damma Oaing Cha Bhikkhu, 73, was found dead, with his throat slit, in a temple in Naikkhangchhari upazila of Bandarban early Saturday.

The killing was carried out in a fashion that bears the hallmark of previous killings on bloggers, secular activists and people belonging to different faiths.

“It was the work of the same group who were behind Ramu attack in 2013,” alleged Shahriar Kabir, executive president of Ekkatorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, told at the programme.

Speakers at the programme also criticised Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, who said relatives of the monk might have been involved in the killing.

“The minister has to withdraw his statement officially,” advocate Rana Das Gupta, a prosecution member of the war crimes tribunal, demanded at the human chain.