Violence Hits Muslim Sect in Bangladesh

A minority Muslim sect in Bangladesh is living in fear after a campaign of violence and widespread intimidation organised by Islamists with close links to the government, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The country's 100,000 Ahmadiyas, Muslims who broke away from mainstream Islam a century ago and believe Mohammed is not the last prophet of god, say human rights activists have been murdered, turned away from schools and their mosques closed down.

Although small in number, the Ahmadiya community contains many thinkers and intellectuals, most prominently Irene Khan, head of Amnesty International.

Human Rights Watch claims that the Bangladeshi government has turned a blind eye to the violence because it has drawn support from anti-Ahmadi groups. Recently a minister condoned a ban on Ahmadiya publications, saying that it was what the majority wanted.

The Jamaat-e-Islami and the Islamic Okye Jyote, junior coalition partners in the government, do not recognise the Ahmadis as Muslims and have been involved in fomenting religious violence against them and other religious minorities.

It is "a dangerous moment in Bangladesh when the government becomes complicit in religious violence", said Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch Asia division. "The authorities have emboldened extremists by failing to prosecute those engaged in anti-Ahmadi violence and by banning Ahmadiyya publications."

Researchers say that Bangladesh is heading down a path first taken by Pakistan decades ago.

Since 2000, an estimated 325 Ahmadis have been formally charged in criminal cases, including blasphemy, for professing their religion in Pakistan. As a result, thousands of Ahmadis have fled Pakistan to seek asylum abroad.

"It is a chilling precedent," said Ali Dayan Hasan, who helped to compile the Human Rights Watch report.

"The worry is that, unlike Pakistan, Bangladesh has large religious minorities. Hindus and Christians make up more than 10% of the population. We have already had reports of attacks on them and the case of Ahmadiyas is a test of where Bangladesh is heading," Mr Hasan added.