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October 5, 2006

Bangladesh: Islamist Bigots To Attack Minority's Mosque

The Ahmadiyya or Ahmadis are Muslims who swear to uphold peace and not to harm any man. Despite these fine principles, they are persecuted throughout the Muslim world. Although they claim to be Muslims, the Ahmadiyya (sometimes called Qadiani or Ahmadi) follow the teachings of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani (1835-1908). The Ahmadiyya follow a policy of respect for human life, but because they revere Ghulam Ahmed (pictured) as a "prophet", they come into conflict with other Muslims.

Perceived as heretics, they are forbidden from going on the Hajj pilgrimage. In Pakistan they are physically attacked. The rulings of Pakistan's repressive blasphemy laws mean that Ahmadis cannot preach, under pain of a three-year jail sentence.

In Indonesia the Ahmadiyya are physically attacked and have been virtually outlawed by the nation's religious affairs minister.

In Bangladesh, currently winding down from its corrupt four-party coalition government in preparation for elections, the persecution has been assisted by at least two of the four parties in power.

The Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party which opposed Bangladesh's secession from Pakistan, has as one of its main members the individual Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, who has links with the terrorist group Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh. On January 13, 2005, he said: "Ahmadiyas don't have any right to introduce themselves as Muslims. They are a minority community here, just like the Hindus and Christians." He supports Khatme Nabuwat, the main faction behind the persecution of Ahmadiyyas, saying they carry "the flag of the Muslim millat. No one should say anything against them."

The small Islami Oikya Jote party is the main sponsor of anti-Ahmadiyyah bigotry. It supports the Khatme Nabuwat (full name International Khatme Nabuwat Movement) and has led political movements and violent actions to control the group. It has supported moves to have the Ahmadiyya outlawed as heretics.

In late December 2003 Khatme Nabuwat with Islami Oikya Jote's assistance demanded that Muslim parties make a bill declaring the Ahmadiyyahs to be non-Muslims. They threatened strikes if this was not done. They also threatened to attack Ahmadiyya mosque in Nakhalpara by January 9, 2004.

Though not declaring the Ahmadis as "non-Muslim", on January 8 2004, the government under Khaleda Zia banned all Ahamadiyyah publications as they contained "objectionable material which hurt or might hurt the sentiments of the majority Muslim population of Bangladesh".

On August 21 2004, battles took place between extremists and police guarding an Ahmadiyyah complex at Bakshibazar. The militants threatened to destroy the complex on August 27 that year, but the plan was thwarted .

In September 2005, the Nabuwat threatened to attack an Ahmadiyyah mosque in the Tejgaon area of Dhaka, the capital on September 30. When this date arrived, 1,000 bigots arrived but were held back by police.

They set another deadline of December 23 for the Khaleda government to make its pronouncement on the status of Ahmadiyyahs as non-Muslims. They also announced that on December 23, they would attack the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya in Bakshibazar, Dhaka. This complex had been threatened with such a deadline before, on August 27, 2004 by another group, Aamra Dhakabashi, which had ended when two of that group's leaders were arrested.

As we reported on December 23, the attacks took place (pictured), with bigots from 22 of the country's 64 districts converging on the mosque in Dhaka. 26 bigots were arrested, and 57 were injured in clashes with police. Buses were vandalized, and police were injured.

Thwarted in their aims, the bigots said that on February 10, 2006, they intend to intimidate Ahmaddiyyas at their places of worship at Dhanikhola in Trishal in Mymensingh, and also on April 17, they were planning to intimidate the sect at their mosque at Shyamnagar in Satkhira District.

On February 22 2006, US Congressman Joseph Crowley met with Ahmadiyya leaders at Bakshibazar, Dhaka, and told journalists that democracy would suffer if Bangladesh did not protect its minorities, including the Ahmadiyya.

On June 23 the Nabuwat, under the leadership of its "amir", Noor Hossain Nurani, tried to blockade the Zia airport in Dhaka, and attacked several buses after they failed to storm the Ahmadiyya mosque in Naddapara in Uttara Thana, Dhaka district. Nurani was hit with a police baton and lay screaming curses while on the ground. When he was taken to hospital, it was found that he had a cut on his finger and no more.

In July, the group laid siege to the Ahmadiyya community in Phulbaria in Jamalpur district in the north of the country. Here, on June 16, the group had earlier physically attacked Ahmadis. At the local mosque, Muslims were told not to sell food to the group in the village of Sharishabari. The local Ahmadi leader, Shamsuddin Master, had his home attacked. First stones were thrown at the house, and later, excrement and garbage were hurled. Islamists threatened to kidnap his daughter. Local government administrators colluded with the siege.

The siege was finally broken after negotiations with the local ward commissioner and officer-in-charge of Sharishabari Police Station after almost a week.

Now that the political government is soon to close down and hand over power to a transitional body while preparations for the upcoming elections take place, there are more threats of violence. The Daily Star states that the International Khatme Nabuwat Movement has announced that tomorrow, after the Friday evening (Juma) prayers are over, that it will lay siege to another mosque. This Ahmadi mosque is located in Tejgaon in Dhaka, the capital.

They have made the decision after their demand for the government to outlaw the Ahmadiyyas as "non-Muslims" was today unheeded in parliament.

A press release from the Nabuwat said: "Since the government did not take any steps in this regard, lovers of prophet Mohammad will continue to lay siege to Ahmadiyya dens across the country."

The attempts to outlaw the Ahmadiyya are against the constitution, Article 28, which states: "(1) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race caste, sex or place of birth."

Watch this space tomorrow for the follow-up on what happens.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 5, 2006 5:52 PM

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