The violence resembled the mayhem carried by the Pakistani occupation force and their local collaborators in 1971, according to Mahbubul Alam Hanif, senior Awami League leader. He led a party delegation to Ramu for an on the spot study of the situation at the behest of prime minister Sheik Hasina, who is away in New York to attend the UN General Assembly session.

Buddhists constitute less than one percent of Bangladesh’s 153 million population; they are mostly concentrated in Cox Bazar and Chittagong close to the border with Buddhist-majority Myanmar. In June, many Rohingyas crossed the border and took shelter in Bangladesh to escape ethnic violence. Locals said some Rohingya militant groups teamed with Islamists and incited Sunday mayhem.

Hanif Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir shared their perception. He said the violence is a “pre-meditated and deliberate” act of communal violence against the minority by “Islamist radicals and political opponents” of the government.   Information Minister Hasan ul Haque Inu has alleged communal forces had been involved in the Ramu violence. Several groups of recognised Jamaat-Shibir activists and the militants led the violence, he said.

Ramu Upazila Chairman Sohel Sarwar said Rohingyas insurgents from the Rakhine and anti-liberation forces might have had a hand in the attacks.   Local BNP lawmaker Lutfor Rahman had fuelled the violence and instigated them to kill the Buddhists, Alamgir alleged.

Violence broke out on Saturday midnight itself and continued till the early hours of Sunday. The anger initially focused against the American film. ‘Innocence of Muslims’, which the Muslims the world over have objected for its denigration of the Prophet Muhammad.   The riots later spread to Patia, home to a sizable Buddhist population, outside of Chittagong, where mobs attacked and vandalised three Buddhist temples. Vandals torched two monasteries at Ukhia and five houses at Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar.

A 250-year-old Buddhist temple on Cheranghata road, Borokang Buddha Bihar and Kendriyo Shima Bihar, Baruapara Buddhist temple, Srikul of Ramu, Pashchim Ratna Sudarshan Buddha Bihar in Kotbari are among the shrines that were vandalised.

The situation has since been brought under control after the army was deployed. Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission said on its request, the Facebook authority had removed the derogatory photo from the Facebook account of the person who hails from Baruapara of Ramu. He and his parents have been detained for questioning, according to local police chief, Selim Md Jahangir

Alam Hanif, who is also a special assistant to the Prime Minister, the government would not tolerate any violence in the name of religion.

“We have demanded that the authorities concerned award exemplary punishment to the culprits and the person who instigated it in the name of a Facebook photo,” he said, after meeting people from all walks of lives and political parties.

Pakistan and Bangladesh offer a study in contrast on controlling passions incited by anti-Islam film. While in Pakistan, the state machinery either remained a passive spectator or allowed protests that plunged the country into anarchy, Bangladesh did not allow the situation to go out of control. Army was swiftly called in Ramu to put down violence from escalating and spreading.