Reign of chaos: As crime surges in Bangladesh, kin on this side pray for peace
Times of India | 11 August 2024
A violence-hit street in Bangladesh KOLKATA: Deep Chowdhury (name changed) of Dum Dum is anxious about his mother, sisters and cousins who are now in Chittagong. Over the last two days, however, he has been feeling a little relieved. "My mother spoke to me over phone and said that the atmosphere of tension and fear was abetting though a fear factor still persisted. The cause of concern is indiscriminate robbery targeting minority areas.Night guard groups have been formed. The apartment they live in has residents from Hindu and Muslim communities so the night guard party consists of members from both," said Deep.
"Hope the situation will be changing for good soon. The schools are now functioning but my nephew and niece Rajarshi (15) and Rajanya (7) are still not attending classes. It will be a real pleasure when the children will be comfortable enough to go out to study and play," adds Deep.
Prasenjit Ghose, a tour operator in Kolkata, is in regular touch with his cousins Uttam and Goutam in Noakhali. Both have shops in the local market. The Chowmohani area where they stay is slowly coming back to normal. Market places closed for the last few weeks have started doing business.
"My brothers said that even 7-8 days ago they did not dare to go outside but from yesterday they have started going to the market. A week ago one of their neighbour's houses was torched by hooligans. My brother said that in that area peace could be bought with money," he said.
What has made things worse is a spate of robberies across Dhaka neighbourhoods. Especially the markets in the city and suburbs, including Noakhali, Maymansingh, Comilla and Chittagong, are being robbed.
In minority belts some market areas which started operations are compelled to shut their business establishments before sunset. The absence of proper policing has added to the woes. Locals are keeping night vigil in groups.
Joydeb Ghose of Barasat has two sisters, Ratna and Sikha, at Brahmanberia, nearly 98 km from Dhaka. "Last night they said the situation was developing very slowly though the threat of extortion has been looming large," he said.
According to Joydeb after the interim govt started operating security force personnel have started doing the rounds. Even BNP workers are helping to boost confidence of the minority citizens. "We are spending days here in deep anxiety and fear," he added.