Post-Attack Nasirnagar: For safety, villagers keep vigil at night

Minutes before Tuesday midnight, five youths with torches and sticks took position on a narrow dirt road to their village, Kasipara.

They would be guarding the narrow path until daybreak to make sure no outsider with an ill-motive could enter the village.

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The youths did not stand still, they constantly moved around. Whenever they heard any noise nearby, all of them got alerted, flashed their torchlight in that direction and shouted, “Hey, who is there?”

An hour later, an elderly man appeared and told them: “Keep guarding properly, I am going to bed.”

Kasipara is one of the six Hindu-dominated areas in Nasirnagar union that came under mob attack on October 30 following a Facebook post allegedly by a Hindu youth, “hurting the religious sentiment of the Muslims”.

Neighbourhood watch teams were formed in each of the Hindu-dominated areas of the union after criminals set fire to six houses in Banikpara, Akhrapara, Thakurpara, Hashpatalpara and Dattapara on the nights of November 3 and 5.

One of the five Kasipara youths was Dhonu Das, a third-year student of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University in Gazipur.

“I came to my village this afternoon [Tuesday afternoon] and learnt that someone from my family would be with the vigilance team at night,” Dhonu said, adding, “My younger brother was supposed to join, but I decided to do the job as he has a class in the morning.”

Kingkar Sutradhar must open his grocery shop in the morning after his time with the team ends at dawn. “I don't mind doing this. I need to ensure the safety and security of my family and neighbours,” he said.

A team of eight people comprising representatives from Hindu and Muslim communities were seen guarding Namasudrapara around 12:20am Wednesday.

“About 50 families can sleep as we guard the village,” said Sukhlal Sarker, a motor mechanic. He added that they would go round the village every 30 minutes during their watch.

Guarding the village at night is an added responsibility for them.

“We guard the village throughout the night. But we have to work during the day as we have no alternative means of earning a livelihood,” said Jamal Hossain, a small trader in Nasirnagar.

Mofiz Mia, headmaster of Goalnagar Government Primary School, said, “We don't think about who is a Muslim and who is a Hindu. There are about 20 Muslim families in Namasudrapara, and we guard our village together at night.”

Majority of the residents in the Hindu localities are poor fishermen, farmers and small traders, and they depend on their daily earnings to feed their families.

During a visit to Shilpara around 1:00am Wednesday, The Daily Star correspondents saw four of a seven-member neighbourhood watch team having tea, prepared by one of the members.

“We have tea to ward off drowsiness,” said Kamol Biswas who   works at a barber shop at Nasirnagar Bazar.

Dulal Biswas, another barber, was with the team although he knew he has to get to work at 8:00am the next day. “I'll get only two to three hours of sleep, but that's all right,” he said.

Ashish Kumer Moloy was the youngest member of the team. A second-year student of Open University, he also works as a motor mechanic.

While patrolling, members of the teams used different words like “Kedai, shabdhan, hushiar” to let others know that they were keeping a watch.

As these correspondents were leaving the village around 1:30am, Moloy started singing a folk song. Singing, he said, helps them stay awake.

They said the night watch at Shilpara began on Saturday after a garage of one Anjan Dev, a resident of adjacent Dattapara and vice-president of Nasirnagar upazila parishad, was set on fire.

Members of the vigilance teams and some elderly Hindu people said they decided to keep watch over their areas at nights as they cannot afford another attack on their houses.

“The attacks took place on the nights of November 3 and 5 amid deployment of police and members of other law enforcement agencies at different places, including the villages,” said Anjan Dev.

Sanjeeb Dev, leader of a neighbourhood watch team at Namasudrapara, said such vigils were required, especially after midnight when “law enforcers can hardly be seen in the villages”.

Nasirnagar Police Station's Officer-in-Charge Abu Jafar welcomed the move to guard the villages at nights by the residents.

“This is certainly helpful for us to maintain law and order following the incidents of attacks,” he said.