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Ahmadiyya Mosque Capture
Security upped to reign back zealots

Dhaka is bracing for a clash as religious fanatics march today to capture an Ahmadiyya mosque and evict Ahmadiyyas from Uttara in the capital, while law enforcers and civil society members gather there to resist the move.

As the bigots, demonstrating under the banner of Khatme Nabuwat Andolon Bangladesh (KNAB), vowed to make their programme a success, police said they would not let the zealots near the Ahmadiyya mosque or homesteads.

Panicked Ahmadiyyas, meantime, distributed leaflets in the trouble-torn Ashkona yesterday calling upon the people not to be misguided by the fanatics’ false propaganda about Ahmadiyya beliefs and to oppose the zealots’ destructive move.The bigots renewed attacks on the members of the Ahmadiyya sect in November 2003 and are continuing hate campaign across the country demanding passage of a law in parliament to brand the Ahmadiyyas as non-Muslim.

The agitators oppose the Ahmadiyyas’ belief that Imam Mahdi, a saviour of the Muslim according to Islamic literature, has already been born and passed away.

Led by their leader Noor Hossain Nurani, Khatme Nabuwat activists yesterday brought out a procession in Ashkona and Dakkhinkhan in Uttara to drum up support and mobilise their men who have gathered there from across the country.

“We’ll make our programme a success at any cost. One lakh of our men will be there tomorrow to force the government meet our demand in the ongoing parliament session,” Nurani told The Daily Star last night.

He vowed to hold the programme at any cost.

But Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police SM Mizanur Rahman said they have taken adequate measures to stop the bigots from launching any attack on the Ahmadiyyas, their mosque or property.

“We’ve taken adequate security steps to check any kind of destructive activities,” he told The Daily Star.

On the bigots’ vow to observe their programme at any cost, he said: “No chance. We’ll not let them near the Ahmadiyya area.”

Meantime, Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee, South Asian People’s Union Against Fundamentalism and Communalism, Ain O Salish Kendra, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Bangladesh Coalition for Child Rights, Bangladesh Development Partnership, Nari O Manobadhikar Foundation, Nari Pokkho and Durbar Network will gather near the Ahmadiyya mosque to resist the bigots.

Source: www.thedailystar.net/2006/06/23/d60623012616.htm