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| Bangladesh |
| Ahmadiyyas in Tangail attacked |
| 2010-06-19 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] An angry mob vandalised a makeshift tin-shed mosque of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat and the house of an Ahmadiyya believer at Ghatail upazila in Tangail Thursday. They also damaged the construction materials for a mosque of the community in Chandtara village around 4:00pm putting about 40 Ahmadiyya families into grave panic. Before the attack on Mokaddes Ali Akanda's house, several thousand local Muslims led by Imam Mufti Nasiruddin of Ghatail Upazila Parishad Mosque brought out a procession under the banner of Imam Parishad after Zohr prayer. They marched four kilometres to Chandtara village and held a rally at a local school. Terming the community "anti-Islam", speakers at the rally demanded that the government immediately declares Ahmadiyyas non-Muslim. They also submitted a memorandum to the Ghatail Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) urging the local administration to stop the construction of the mosque. Besides, they threatened of a tougher programme if the construction work is not stopped by June 24. Imam Mufti Nasiruddin and Maulana Rezaul Karim, local leader of Islami Andolan Bangladesh, spoke at the rally, among others. After the rally, a group of people rushed to the mosque construction site at Akandapara in the village and destroyed construction materials and launched an attack on Mokaddes' house. The attackers left the place when Ghatail police reached there, said locals and police. Officer-in-charge of Ghatail Police Station Mominur Rahman said police arrested three youths from the spot but released them later as they were not involved in the violence. Police had been deployed in the village to avert further violence in the area. "I have not filed any case in this connection considering safety of my family and the community," said Mokaddes Ali. Abu Taher Akanda, another Ahmadiyya, alleged that although the demonstration had been announced over loudspeaker for two days, the local administration did not take any preventive measures. Ghatail UNO Mohammad Nurul Alam told The Daily Star that he did not give any permission to hold a rally. He, however, said that the protestors including the Imam assured him of not going past the Chandtara School. After the rally, Mufti Nasiruddin told The Daily Star that the local administration had assured them of not allowing any Ahmadiyya mosque in the village and that the construction materials for the mosque would be removed immediately. |
| Posted by:Fred |