Compass Direct News agency said Muslim villagers armed with bricks and wooden clubs beat 10 Christian converts in villages of Nilphamari district and threatened to burn their homes if they did not leave by late Thursday, June 28.
Muslim extremists allegedly also threatened to kill two Christians. A human rights advocate working on behalf of the Christians was quoted as saying that local police and government officials, including the district commissioner, "are very slow to respond.”
Police allegedly rejected the Christians’ attempt to file a complaint and threatened to arrest them for “converting Muslims.” The tensions came amid reports that government-backed security forces used bulldozers to destroy a village of formerly homeless people, build with the assistance of a local Christian community.
"ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTION"
AsiaNews, a Catholic news agency, said the incident happened late May, officially as part of government efforts to stamp out illegal construction and related corruption.
However in statements published by AsiaNews church officials suggested that the real reason was government objections to church activities among impoverished Muslims. In addition local authorities said the homes were "to good" for poor people in the area, AsiaNews reported.
On May 28 bulldozers destroyed 26 small houses already built, indoor plumbing and bathroom
included, and 14 homes on their way to completion, AsiaNews said. Heavy rain was expected to
add to the misery.
MANY KILLED
A landslide on June 11 already caused serious damage to one third of Chittagong city, affecting 1.5 million people, with around 130 people killed and 100 injured, aid workers and media reports said.
Tens of thousands of people, including Christians, are believed to be homeless. Rescue workers have said that often Christian families are among those most suffering as aid often does not reach them in predominantly Muslim nations such as Bangladesh.
Christians comprise less than 1 percent of the mainly Muslim population of 150 million, according to estimates. (With BosNewsLife Monitoring and BosNewsLife Research).
