In a revealing comment, Dr Shushil said: "I don't have any hostility or dispute with anybody in my area. Even nobody attempted ever to grab our land properties." He then added, "I have been practicing in my village for the last four years and everybody respects me there...So, I get puzzled and fail to understand why we were attacked".

Like the majority of working-class and rural population of Bangladesh, the inhabitants of Banshkhali were generally tolerant towards all religions. It seems likely that outsiders, possibly with funding and support from local or national goondas and politicians, carried out this attack to create an environment of religious cleansing.

There are strong parallels to the deadly Hindu-Muslim riots that broke out during the 1946-48 Partition riots. To take just one example, riots were instigated in 1926 to destabilize the status quo and empower openly communal leaders. Following riots in Pabna and Calcutta, the Dacca riots of September 1926 were a direct challenge to the secular Nawab's authority. Events centered on the Janmashtami celebration, a symbol of Hindu-Muslim cooperation. By targeting this event, outsiders managed to invert the symbolism of Janmashtami-- instead of being an example of syncretism, it became a lightning rod for new tensions.

As riots and counter-riots escalated, the role of outside agitation, money and deliberate agent provocateurs became obvious. In April 1927, Chief Secretary Prentice complained about travelling preachers who were fomenting trouble: "Events at Patuakhali have shown how a purely local agitation [which] would probably die-down if the local people were left to themselves is being fomented by outsiders who arrange for the supply of men and money." "

75 years later, shadowy outsiders are at it again, threatening to destroy the communal harmony that exists among the common people. Will we learn from history, or will we repeat it?