In another attack on minorities, 189 houses and 50 shops of Ahmadi Muslims were either looted or set on fire in northern Bangladesh, in the city of Ahmednagar in Panchagarh district, the Bitter Winter reported.
In a previous incident in a grim sequence of events, Jahid Hasan, a young man around 25 years of age, was clobbered to death on March 3. An Ahmadi Muslim, Hasan was murdered on the day of the inauguration of the 98th annual convention of Bangladeshi Ahmadi Muslims in the city of Ahmednagar in Panchagarh district, the Bitter Winter reported. Jahid Ahmadi was trying to protect the convention grounds from the aggression of a large group of thugs, and his assassination followed attacks over three nights, the report said, adding that four other Ahmadis were also hospitalised in critical condition while more than 100 suffered injuries.
The Ahmadiya Mosque of Darul Wahid Mohalla neighbourhood and the Ahmadiya Medical Clinic and Laboratory was set ablaze, the report stated further, adding that 189 houses and 50 shops belonging to Ahmadi Muslims were looted or set on fire.
The IHRC confirmed that the mob, which stormed the Ahmadi convention, was incited by the preaching of extremist Sunni Muslim clerics, who consider the Ahmadis heretics.
IHRC was also alerted to rumours of imminent attacks against the Ahmadiya Centers of Nasirabad, Kafuria, Islam Ganj and Borchor in Bangladesh on 10, 2023, the report stated.
Unlike Pakistan, Bangladesh has no state law discriminating against Ahmadiyas or declaring them non-Muslims. But there are fanatics who replicate the situation of Pakistan, whose Islamic fundamentalists are a source of inspiration for their Bangladeshi counterparts, the report said.