The salient feature of the pogroms was its urban nature and selective targeting of Bengali Hindu owned industries and merchant establishments in the capital city of Dhaka.

[5] Abdus Sabur Khan, the Communications Minister of Pakistan, had forcibly occupied 30 bighas of land from one Rupchand Biswas, a Hindu landowner from Matikhali in 1960 and erected a three-storeyed building in it.

[7] After the loss, Khan and his party members including the Chairman of Chamkuri Union Board held the Hindus responsible for the defeat and began to threaten them with dire consequences.

On 2 January 1964, the Hindus were not allowed to wear shoes, use umbrellas or ride a rickshaw as a mark of mourning for the loss of relic.

[citation needed] In the afternoon, processions in Khulna mourning the loss of relic, went around the town shouting "Kill the Hindus".

Abdus Sabur Khan addressed a huge gathering at Daulatpur industrial area in the outskirts of Khulna.

Immediately after the meeting, a 20,000 strong Muslim crowd spread out in the neighbouring localities of Senhati, Maheshwarpasha, Pabla, Chandani Mal and Daulatpur and began to loot Hindu properties and set them on fire.

The violence against the Hindus were led by the Muslim workers of Khulna Shipyard, Dada Co., Ispahani Co., and Kata Co. Soleman, the Chairman of Loppur Union supplied the attackers with firearms.

[13] Arabinda Bhattacharyya, a reputed pleader of Khulna, repeatedly rang Khan for taking necessary action, but every time he excused himself by citing his unavailability due his niece's marriage.

[15] On 14 and 15 January, Hindu passengers in the mail trains arriving at Dhaka from Chittagong and Sirajganj was asked to get down at Tongi and Tejgaon.

[16][17] On 15 January, a Muslim mob arrived at 20 Nawabpur Road, entered the house and struck off the head of the priest and desecrated the images of Radha Krishna.

[22] After the Hazratbal incident, the Hindu students hostel of East Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology were pelted with stones every night.

[22] Nari Shiksha Mandir was attacked, where Abani Guha Roy, the head clerk was killed and Jagajiban Bose, a senior teacher was stabbed.

[30] On 23 January, The Hindu quoting the Pakistan authorities reported that around 1,000 persons were killed in communal violence in Dhaka for the last one week.

Soon after a 2,000 strong Muslim mob armed with lathis and iron rods broke in and launched a severe assault on the hapless people in which three persons died and about a dozen were injured.

[33] On 14 January, Gosthabihari Saha, a well known businessman of Narayanganj was killed and his printing press Satyasadhana was looted and set on fire.

[34] Sixteen members of the family of Barada Prasad Ray, the Union Board President of Maiman village were killed.

People from disturbed villages took shelter at Narsingdi College building and some privately arranged houses under the care of some influential Muslims.

On the day of Eid ul-Fitr, Basudev Sharma, who was considered a guru by thousands of Hindu workers, was forced to take beef.

[25] Lands belonging to Garo and Hajong people were grabbed in Nalitabari, Kalmakanda, Durgapur, Haluaghat and Sreebardi areas of the then Mymensingh district.

The ordinance was challenged at the Dhaka High Court by Chittaranjan Sutar, where the government of East Pakistan lost the case.

[11] On 2 March, The Globe and Mail reported that thousands of Hindus eager to emigrate to India are stranded in Dhaka.

[45] By 28 March, around 78,000 tribal refugees had migrated from Mymensingh District in East Pakistan to present day Meghalaya in India.

[42] Realizing the consequences, the Pakistan government made an effort to woo the tribal people back home.

The Archbishop of Dhaka met President Ayub Khan and wrote a letter appealing to the tribal refugees to come back home.

[42] The Indian authorities announced the appeal of the Pakistan government and the Archbishop of Dhaka to the refugees in the camps and offered them free transportation to the border.

[46] In the afternoon of 15 January 1964, around 300 Bengali Hindus of neighbouring area, including women and children took refuge in the house of Swadesh Nag at Hemendra Das Road in Sutrapur, Dhaka.

A relief camp was opened at Jagannath Hall of Dhaka University where 800 people including three legislators of the East Pakistan assembly took shelter.

Chhimchhangar Duta Par, a 1965 Assamese novel by Umakanta Sharma has the persecution and subsequent exodus of Garos from East Pakistan during the riots as the central theme.

[citation needed] Chitra Nadir Pare, a 1999 Bengali film by Bangladeshi filmmaker Tanvir Mokammel, has the riots in the backdrop.