The government claims that the opposition is provoking communalism. If there is proof of this, why are they not making this public? Why were three BNP men charged with attacking a temple in Chattogram when they were already in jail from much beforehand. Did they carry out the attack from within the jail? BNP and Awami League is not the issue here. Whoever instigated the attacks on the homes of the minorities, must face the law. If random cases are filed, the actual criminals will get away.

Chhatra League temporarily suspended a dozen or so of its leaders and activists for uploading inflammatory posts in Facebook. That means the problem is not within the opposition alone, but within Awami League and its affiliated bodies too. Admit this. It was no opposition party or religious leader who riled up the people in the aggressive manner which former Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Sayeed Khokon did, using incendiary language against a state minister.

The anger and grief in the words of Gonoshasthya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury when he saw the faces of the victims in Jelepara of Pirganj, Rangpur, cannot be written off as anti-government speech. He said the government had failed to prevent the attacks on the minorities. He also said, "All of us have failed. If we had humanity within us, we could have protected these people."