Christians in the region, amid reports that some have been forced to "reconvert" to Islam with authorities refusing to intervene.
The curfew was imposed last week after protests by students of the Dhaka University against the presence of army troops at a campus football match spread across the country, killing one man and injuring around 300 people, officials said. The situation has been closely monitored by the embattled Christian community amid reports that in some areas Islamist missionaries from abroad are hauling recently converted Christians to mosques and forcing them to return to Islam,
In a statement distributed by Christian news agency Compass Direct News, Evangelist and Pastor Sanjoy Roy said Muslims in the country’s tense Nilphamari district have forced 27 recently baptized Christians to return to Islam, while another 14 converts still face incessant pressure to return to become Muslims.
Earlier, high-ranking police officers and government officials provided temporary security for a group of Christian converts beaten in the region. Muslim villagers reportedly attacked the Christians on June 26 and the next day, giving them a 24-hour deadline to leave the area or face further beatings and the destruction of their homes.
"DRAGGING CONVERTS"
Roy said however that they left on August 5 and that since then, Muslims in Durbachari village began "dragging all male converts to a mosque, forcing them to sign blank papers or declarations of a return to Islam." Abul Hossen was quoted as saying that Muslims threatened to hang him in a tree upside down and lacerate his body with a blade. Hossen said the Muslims “do not allow us to net fish in the river” and offered him 5,000 taka (US$75) and a mobile phone handset if he returned to Islam, Compass Direct News reported.
Several human rights groups, including Christian Freedom International (CFI), have expressed concerns that Christians will face growing pressure in Bangladesh. "The government is notorious for corruption. Bangladesh is 88 percent Muslim, which makes it one of the largest Islamic nations. In rural parts of the country Sharia Law has been instated [and terror group] Al-Qaida has committed acts of terror inside Dhaka and is known to have cells there," CFI said.
Bangladesh has been under a state of emergency since the interim authority took over on January 11 following weeks of political violence that killed at least 25 people. The government has reportedly accused students and some teachers backed by political parties of trying to "destabilize the country and undermine the administration" through last week’s demonstrations. It was not clear how many Christians were among those killed.
HEAVY FLOODING
The political and religious pressure on Christians and those perceived to endangering the government’s power base comes as the country also struggles with natural disasters, including flooding, that Christian aid workers say have killed 2,800 people in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan.
A host of Christians in the region has been serving alongside Southern Baptists as they coordinate relief efforts "in prayerfully selected areas, places where governments and other relief organizations have not yet focused," Baptist Press said in a statement.
"Millions have been displaced from their homes and are suffering from insufficient food and illnesses related to bad water," said a Southern Baptist worker in the area, on condition his real name is not revealed for security reasons, Baptist Press reported. (With BosNewsLife Monitoring and reporting from Bangladesh).
