Dhaka, May 30 (IANS) Bangladesh is witnessing growing cultural intolerance with attacks targeting shrines, minorities, journalists, and cultural organisations – allegedly carried out by groups linked to the country’s radical Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami.

The repeated involvement of Jamaat affiliated workers suggests tacit backing, while administrative inaction — even during attacks witnessed by police or security forces — has intensified public concerns over political pressure and impunity, a report has highlighted.

According to a report in ‘The Diplomat’, at least two Sufi shrines have been attacked by Islamist mobs in Bangladesh over the last two months. The first incident occurred on April 11, when a spiritual leader was beaten to death by a mob of nearly 300-400 people during an attack on a shrine in Kushtia in western Bangladesh.

Then, on May 14, a mob stormed the centuries-old shrine of Hazrat Shah Ali Baghdadi in Dhaka’s Mirpur, vandalising the site and beating people with sticks.

The two attacked were allegedly carried out by Jamaat. Although the party has denied its involvement, evidence points towards Jamaat – the main opposition party in Bangladesh.

“Following the attack on the shrine in Mirpur on May 14, police arrested three men reportedly linked to the Jamaat based on video footage. Local parliamentarian Meer Ahmad Bin Qasem Arman, who was elected in the recent February 12 general elections on a Jamaat ticket, admitted that some of those arrested worked in his election campaign. Similarly, the murder of the Pir in Kushtia was reportedly led by a former district president of Chhatra Shibir, Jamaat’s student wing,” the report detailed.

It added that following the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5, 2024, the violent incidents targeting shrines, Sufi institutions, and spiritual centres across Bangladesh have escalated.

Highlighting that Jamaat leaders and workers were linked to several of these attacks, the report further said the surge in “mob justice” had grown increasingly visible in Bangladesh during the eighteen-month tenure of the former Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.

“According to a recent study by the think tank Maqam: Center for Sufi Heritage, at least 97 shrines were attacked over the 17 months when Yunus was at the helm. Three people were killed and 468 others were injured in these attacks,” it noted.

Emphasising the wider implications, the report said, “History shows that once mob culture becomes normalised, it rarely remains under anyone’s control. An attack on a shrine today may become an attack on another religious or social group tomorrow. Unless political forces take a firm stand against violence, this cycle will continue.”

–IANS

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