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BANSHKHALI BLOODBATH

Lonely cradle rocks to evoke tortured memory

SHAHIDUL ISLAM, back from Banshkhali
The burnt remains of a mud house in a Banshkhali village still remind visitors of the cruelty that descended on 11 of a Hindu family in sleep, with the cradle of a four-day-old baby, charred furniture and utensils scattered all over.
"It is still too eerie to look at two weeks into the carnage. When visitors step on the scene, ashes fly upwards," said a resident of Shilpara, 35 kilometres south of Chittagong city.
A crumpled lantern, a steel almirah, a tin suitcase, spoons and bottles -- all define the memories left by the family that has lost most of its members in the November 19 deadliest ever incineration in Bangladesh.
Most shocking reminder is the abandoned cradle of Kartik, the youngest among the victims of the arson, which police described as just another robbery.
"It is too macabre to think of," said a woman, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Kartik was a joy in the family but wiped out of existence four days after birth. Ever heard of? Ever imagined?" cried the woman, who lives not far away from the scene.
"His father Anil Shil bought baby kits and some toys for him a few days before he was born. All were reduced to ashes," said Nepal Chandra Shil, who lost his father Debendra Lal Shil in the massacre.
Nepal, 28, a hairdresser in Chakaria, rushed back home on hearing the news only to see most of his loved ones dead.
"I saw no-one in my house, nor Kartik. I called him by name again and again," said Nepal, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"I don't believe this is a robbery, as eight other houses in the same yard were untouched," he said.
The duplex-styled house that bears all hallmarks of devastation has five rooms with a window and a door for each, a common front corridor, a storeroom, a kitchen and an earthen stairway, which leads to the first floor.
Police with back-ups from paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles yesterday arrested a person who they believe was involved in the carnage.
Abdur Karim alias Kalu was the first to be netted in the
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remote Dongra village shortly before 4:00am over the attack that sparked countrywide outrage.
Kalu, believed to be part of a gang of robbers based in Dongra, was taken on a seven-day remand.
The latest capture brought the number of arrests to nine, but police could not extract any information from them, which can lead to the arrest of the masterminds behind the arson.
In the sweep led by Additional Superintendent of Police (south) Mahbubul Alam and ASP (north) Chowdhury Monjurul Kabir also nabbed two others, Nizam and Ayub Ali, as suspected robbers.