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July 16, 2006

Bangladesh: Muslim "Heretics" Besieged In Their Homes

We wrote on June 23 of the attempts by the Hifazate Khatme Nabuwat Andolon Bangladesh (KNAB or KNMB) to blockade the Zia International Airport and to attack Ahmadiyya mosques, in a "hartal" or strike/demonstration.

The leader or "amir" of KNAB, Noor Hossain Nurani, had vowed to mobilise thousands of supporters to gather, to pressure the government to outlaw the Ahmadiyyas, and to declare them to be "non-Muslims". Their campaign has been going on for more than two years, and in January 2004, they succeeded in getting the government to order all Ahmadiyya books and publications to be banned. In June last year, in a 45-page report entitled "Breach of faith: persecution of the Ahmadiyya community in Bangladesh", Human Rights Watch declared that the coalition government had a hand in the violence and persecution offered to this sect of Islam.

The Islami Oikya Jote, one of the smaller partners in the coalition, certainly has a hand in the campaigns of the KNAB, but members of the larger Jamaat-e-Islami party have also lent their weight to the persecutions. One of their anti-Ahmadiyya politicians, Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, is currently in Britain, spreading his poison. In the UK, the country's oldest mosque in Aldershot is Ahmadiyya, who have been in Britain for more than a century.

The Ahmadiyya, or Ahmadi, are Muslim, but are against violence, which makes them vulnerable to the non-violent activities of Sunni Muslims, their main tormentors. The Ahmadi follow the teachings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani (1835-1908). Because they revere Ghulam Ahmad as a prophet, they are seen as heretics, and are banned from performing Hajj to Mecca. They are persecuted in Indonesia and also Pakistan, where they are persecuted under the 1986 blasphemy laws.

Following our June 23 report of Noor Hossain Nurani's plans to bring international air traffic to a halt, the KNAB ran into problems. Not only was it unable to gather enough members to mount its campaign, it was met with armed riot police. The Daily Star for June 26 reported that the day before, while they tried to march into suburbs of Dhaka, the capital, they met police, so turned around and tried to march to other suburbs on their list. They came to the Tongi bridge, the only entry into Uttara suburb, and there riot police attacked them.

For all his bravery when attacking unarmed Ahmadiyya civilians, amir Noor Hossain Nurani claimed to be wounded in the attack, and was shouting and hurling abuse, condemning the police for attacking him, even though he was a leader of his organisation. He was rushed to Bangladesh Medical College Hospital to have his "wound" treated. His injury was merely a cut finger.

Noor Hossain Nurani's "injury" led to a cessation of KNAB plans. Despite his promises of having thousands of supporters, the Star reported that no-one turned up for day two of the "hartal".

Unfortunately, the anti-Ahmadiyya bigots have now moved their attention away from Dhaka, where there is a strong police presence, and have now turned their attention to a small community of Ahmadiyyas living in Jamalpur district in the north of the country, adjacent to the Indian border.

On Wednesday last week, the New Age and News From Bangladesh reported that KNAB were planning to hold a rally in Phulbaria in Jamalpur district. The report stated that the rally would be attended by speakers from the local Awami League (the main opposition party) and the BNP (the ruling party in the coalition). Ahmadiyya residents claimed that on June 16, the community had come under violent attacks from the KNAB activists, which had happened under the noses of the municipality chairman and the brother of a state minister. The attack happened despite 144 officers sent by the UNO (upazila nirbahi officer) being present.

The result of Thursday's rally by KNAB is now being made apparent, reports the Daily Star. The same village in Sharishabari thana (administrative district) has come under attack by local activists. This community was subject to attack in July last year, when several houses had been ransacked, before the assailants were dispersed by police.

Ittefaqul Ulama, a local anti-Ahmadi leader who led the rally on Thursday, has been leading the current campaign of intimidation. The Sharishabari municipality chairman, Faridul Kabir Talukdar, had attended the rally, as well as the UNO, Mohammed Al-Amin, giving political weight to the campaign.

Ittefaqul Ulama and his followers have been threatening to kill villagers if they leave their homes, and as a result, some 2,000 Ahmadiyyas are being confined in their homes, not able to leave to buy food. They have been under siege since the rally on Thursday. No-one from the Ahmadiyya community have been able to go to work.

The rally had called for the Ahmadiyyas to be boycotted, and at various mosques on Friday evening, sermons were given at Juma prayers, which urged locals to unite in their ostracising of the Ahmadi community.

After Juma prayers were over, the local leader of the sect, Shamsuddin Master, had his home attacked. First stones were thrown at the house, and later, excrement and garbage were hurled.

The Muslims called out abuse at his family, and threatened to kidnap the leader's young daughter.

Yesterday, when a six-year old boy went to buy groceries, Rois Uddin, a shopkeeper refused to sell him anything, telling the child that he was forbidden to sell to Ahmadiyyas "as they are not Muslim".

Members of the sect have pleaded with the authorities to intervene, lest they starve. Bangladesh's Constitution states that the country is Muslim, but other religions are free to be practiced. But when local administrative chiefs and representatives of leading parties can give their assent to campaigns of intimidation against the Ahmadiyya, the constitution is obviously either worthless or obsolete.

Noor Hossain Nurani, obviously fully recovered from the terrible injury he sustained in Dhaka, had also attended the Jamalpur rally on Thursday. He announced: "Ahmadiyyas are not Muslims and so we've asked all local Muslims to stop having any kind of contact with them."

For the update on this story, please click HERE

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 16, 2006 10:41 AM

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