Christians in the Dyenna area of Bangladesh’s Tangial district are living in fear after local people’s representatives threatened to evict them and stop the construction of a church.
Pastor Mrinal Kanti Baul of the Evangelical Holiness Protestant Church complained that they were being stopped from building the church by members of the ruling party in a village located some 100 kilometers from national capital Dhaka.
“The constitution of Bangladesh has given us freedom of religion. But here I’m being prevented from building a church and being threatened with expulsion from the village. We have informed the administration in writing,” he told UCA News.
The latest incident occurred on Jan. 22 but church leaders said they were first attacked by local Muslim mobs soon after they purchased the land and started building a church in 2013.
The evangelical church has been operating in the Dyenna area since 2010. The village has about 25 active members while their congregation across Bangladesh is 3,000-strong.
Accused Dyenna Union Council Chairman Afzal Hossain denied the allegations against him, saying that many local Muslims gathered near the under-construction church and, anticipating some trouble, he had asked for help from the administration.
The sacred constitution of Bangladesh has given us the freedom to practice our religion. But people are not able to practice their faith due to some radical Muslim groups
“I did it for the good of the Christian community. I am obliged to act according to what the administration says,” Hossain told UCA News.
District Commissioner Ataul Gani told UCA News that he had heard of the incident and asked police to investigate. “I have told the local Christians to report any further problem to the police and action will be taken in the matter,” he said.
A leader of the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council in Tangail district, speaking on condition of anonymity, said interfering with religious freedom does not behoove a civilized man.
“The sacred constitution of Bangladesh has given us the freedom to practice our religion. But people are not able to practice their faith due to some radical Muslim groups. We, the minority community, protest and want to practice our religion freely,” the Hindu leader told UCA News.
Thank you. You are now signed up to Daily newsletter
An estimated three million people belong to ethnic minority groups in the Muslim-majority nation of more than 160 million people.
….As we enter the first months of 2022, we are asking readers like you to help us keep UCA News free.
For the last 40 years, UCA News has remained the most trusted and independent Catholic news and information service from Asia. Every week, we publish nearly 100 news reports, feature stories, commentaries, podcasts and video broadcasts that are exclusive and in-depth, and developed from a view of the world and the Church through informed Catholic eyes.
Our journalistic standards are as high as any in the quality press; our focus is particularly on a fast-growing part of the world – Asia – where, in some countries the Church is growing faster than pastoral resources can respond to – South Korea, Vietnam and India to name just three.
And UCA News has the advantage of having in its ranks local reporters who cover 23 countries in south, southeast, and east Asia. We report the stories of local people and their experiences in a way that Western news outlets simply don’t have the resources to reach. And we report on the emerging life of new Churches in old lands where being a Catholic can at times be very dangerous.
With dwindling support from funding partners in Europe and the USA, we need to call on the support of those who benefit from our work.
(Note: This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed. PriyaSaha.Com Staff may not have modified or edited the content body. Please visit the Source Website that deserves the credit and responsibility for creating this content.)
