14 families under siege in Kushtia
Ahmadia mosque Imam killed in Jessore

STAFF REPORTER

A leader of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat was killed when a group of armed people attacked members of the Jamaat at Raghunathpurbag under Jhikargachha upazila in Jessore on Friday afternoon.

Md Shah Alam, president of Raghunathpurbag Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, and several others of the community were injured in the attack led by the imam of a mosque at about 2.15 pm when they were holding discussion in the mosque of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat after juma prayers. Md Shah Alam succumbed to his injuries when he was being taken to hospital.

Shah Alam was also the imam of the local mosque of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat. The attackers also ransacked the doors and windows of the mosque of Ahmadiyya Jamaat and house of Md Shah Alam.

There are 14 families of Ahmadiyya community in Jhikargachha.

Secretary of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Bangladesh AK Rezaul Karim in a statement yesterday protested the terrorist attack on the members of the community for their difference of opinion on religious matters. He claimed that Ahmadiyyas were Muslims and followers of Hazrat Muhammad (SM).

Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat secretary said panic was prevailing among the members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat at Bhabanipur in Kushtia district since October 23 as a local Moulavi was creating tension against them.

He demanded speedy trial and exemplary punishment to the persons responsible for the killing and terrorist activities against the Ahmadiyya community.

According to BBC this is the second attack on the followers of Ahmadiyya community in the region in recent times.

The people of Ahmadiyya community in Jhikargachha told the BBC that they felt insecure and they were threatened not to go to the mosque to say prayers. Police have been deployed in the village.

The wife of Shah Alam filed a case against 12 persons including the imam of a nearby mosque.

In 1999 an Ahmadiyya mosque was attacked in Khulna that left seven people dead.

A leader of the Ahmadiyya community Abdul Awal told the BBC that some quarters were behind the recent attacks on their followers and these attacks were politically motivated.

Local administration said that they were trying to defuse tension between the two communities through negotiation.

Same news was carried by matamat.com

2003-11-02, Politics, UNB/matamat

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Ahmadia mosque Imam killed in Jessore

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