Murder of Hindu priest indicates ominous future

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday condemned Sunday's attack on a temple in Panchagarh's Debiganj upazila and the murder of its priest, saying the killing indicated an ominous future.

In a media statement, she described the murder as "beastly" and demanded immediate arrest of the killers and exemplary punishment for them.

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Unidentified criminals slit the throat of Jogeswar Dasadhikari, 50, at Sri Sri Shonto Gaurio temple on Sunday and fled the scene firing shots and exploding homemade bombs, which also injured two devotees.

The BNP chief said the civil society repeatedly warned against the possibility of emergence of extremist and radical 

forces as the government had "imposed a one-party fascist rule" in the country.

Khaleda said the plan of killing innocent people started with the murder of Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella.

Foreigners, religious leaders, bloggers, and publishers have been murdered as part of the plan, she added.

"In this very bad time, questions have arisen in public mind what the government is doing?"

The former prime minister alleged that the government did not take any initiative to stop the bloodshed.

"The government has taken no action against people getting killed one after another over the last few months. It even couldn't unearth the mystery behind the murders," she said.

The BNP chief criticised the government for shifting blame on the opposition and implicating BNP leaders and activists in "false" cases in the incidents instead of finding the offenders and preventing the attacks.