Islamists demanding withdrawal of 23 cases Ahmadiyya members filed following two incidences of mob violence last year

Muslim devotees carry a Bangladesh national flag as they take part in a rally to mark Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad, in Dhaka on October 9, 2022. Minority Ahmadiyya Muslims have endured violence from radicals in the past decades. (Photo: AFP)

By Emran Hossain

Published: October 09, 2024

Ahmadiyya Muslim sect leaders and members have accused hardline Islamists of a fresh hate campaign to seek withdrawal of cases filed over mob attacks on the community in Bangladesh.

They alleged that Islamist extremists have been attempting to persecute the minority group amid a lax law and order situation following the ouster of the longtime autocratic regime of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in early August.

On Oct. 7, a group of hardline Muslims formed a human chain in the northern Panchagarh district demanding the withdrawal of 23 cases Ahmadiyya members filed following two incidences of mob violence last year.

The participants called Ahmadiyya heretics and demanded the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus to amend the constitution to declare the community officially ‘non-Muslims’ as in Pakistan.

They accused Ahmadiyya of causing immense suffering for innocent Muslims with false cases.

Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamat, a national body representing the community, issued a statement to dismiss the allegations.

“We strongly protest the accusation. No false cases were filed by the Ahmadiyya,” read the Jamat’s Oct. 8 statement.

An Islamist mob attacked Ahmadiyya-majority Ahmadnagar village in Panchagarh on March 3 last year after some Muslims reportedly opposed their Jalsa, a nighttime annual religious gathering.

During the violence, the mob beat one Ahmadiyya to death while a member of the mob was killed during clashes with the law enforcers. The violence later spread to another predominantly Ahmadiyya village, Shalasiri.

Houses and shops owned by Ahmadiyya Muslims were attacked, looted and vandalized.

“Police investigated the cases and charge sheets were submitted in connection with some. The cases are solid and under trial,” said Ahmad Tabsir Chowdhury, a spokesperson for the community.

He said cases were filed based on video footage.

Since mid-September, a hate campaign started against the community over the cases, community leaders said.

On Sept. 15, Mamunul Haque, a controversial radical Islamic leader and secretary general of the rightwing party, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, attended a rally in Panchagarh.

Haque issued a one-month ultimatum to the administration for withdrawal of the cases.

He alleged Muslims were victims of conspiracies by Christian missionaries and Ahmadiyyas, who converted them, often taking advantage of their destitute conditions.

“The cases against Muslims should be withdrawn. Muslims are accused in false cases,” he said as hundreds of his followers cheered.

The party’s district president Meer Morshed Tuhin, admitted organizing periodical programs to demand the withdrawal of the cases ever since.

“Seven to eight days ago we even submitted memorandums to authorities to press home our demand,” he said.

Mizanur Rahman, the Superintendent of Police, the district’s chief police officer, said he was unaware of such a demand as he assumed charge on Sept. 22.

“I am unaware of any pressure on Ahmadiyyas to withdraw the cases. The law-and-order situation is normal,” he said.

Ahmadiyya leaders and villagers say things can worsen anytime for the community.

Locals alleged that following the political changeover in early August, Islamists attacked Ahmadnagar village again, forcing all villagers to flee and take shelter in the premises of mosques.

“The police so far refused to accept any complaint over the August 5 attack,” said Ahmadiyya leader Chowdhury, alleging the same people were involved in the latest attacks.

He said that in the name of a “peace deal,” a settlement was being negotiated between the community and the hardliners.

“We agreed to withdraw the cases considering it meant the end of repression, let it be,” Chowdhury added.

Ahmadiyya is an Islamic messianic movement founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) in British India.

There are an estimated 100,000 Ahmadiyyas in Bangladesh where about 90 percent of the nation’s 170 million people adhere to moderate Sunni Islam.

Islamic radicals have repeatedly demanded that the Ahmadiyya be declared non-Muslims.

Since 2013, when Bangladesh saw a rise in Islamic militancy, armed extremists have murdered atheists, foreigners, liberal Muslims, and religious minorities, as well as the Ahmadiyyas.

source https://www.ucanews.com/news/bangladeshi-ahmadiyyas-targeted-by-hate-campaign/106663