Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Church Leaders in Bangladesh Beaten at Police Station

I'm glad that my Bangladeshi brethren are protesting  what the police did to church leaders. Hopefully, they are heard by their government leaders in spite of the Muslims who might riot if they feel their superiority being threatened.


8/29/11 Bangladesh (CDN) — Hundreds of Christians this month protested the hitting of two church leaders at a police station in southern Bangladesh after a Christian reported a local ruling party activist had occupied his house.

Bablu Biswas of Christianpara village in Gopalganj district, 62 miles (100 kilometers) south of Dhaka, had filed a police complaint accusing the son of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) district president of illegally occupying his house. Biswas said Sohel Miah, son of Gopalganj district AL leader Raja Miah Batu, seized his house on July 23. Miah is also active in the AL.

A police official of Gopalganj called the Christians and the ruling party leaders, who are Muslims, to the police station to resolve the complaint. Onukul Biswas, pastor of St. Mothuranath Assembly of God Church, was present at the police station meeting.

“The attitude of the political leaders was that we should accept everything, whatever they said – if we argued anything, they got angry,” Pastor Biswas said. “At one point in the talks, Miah thrust at one of our older church leaders. He pushed him several times very inhumanly and landed a punch on his nose in front of everyone.”

The Christians left the police station in protest of the assault on their elderly pastor, said Pastor Biswas, but while they were still in the police station compound, Miah and his supporters beat Mitul Bala, a Church of the Nazarene of Bangladesh elder, for protesting their hostility.

“The beating of two pastors brought disgrace upon the whole Christian community,” said Biswas.
Christians across Gopalganj district quickly mobilized, with 250 to 300 gathering to demonstrate against the treatment of the Christians at the police station. The demonstrators submitted a letter of protest to the district administration chief, or deputy commissioner, who promised to resolve the dispute within a week. The Christians also demonstrated at the district press club.

“If they can beat us in the police station, they can do anything on us – where will we get protection?” Bala said. “We held a protest rally because a police station is such a place where everybody is equal in the eyes of the law. But the son of the ruling party leader beat one of our pastors by wielding political power.”

Bangladesh is the world’s third-largest Muslim-majority nation, with Muslims making up 89 percent of its population of 164.4 million, according to Operation World. Christians are less than 1 percent of the total, and Hindus 9 percent(Source).

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