Vigilante group formed in Bangladesh to stop Christian activities

A vigilante committee has been formed in central Bangladesh to stop Christian activities in the local community, two months after the construction of a local church was halted.

The committee is made up of political leaders, Muslim elders and an elected local government official.

In September, the government official ordered an end to the construction of the Tangail Evangelical Holiness Church in Bilbathuagani village, Tangail, about 100 kilometres north of Dhaka.

The construction of the church had been started on September 8 by a group of around 25 Christians, who had been meeting secretly for three years.

However, five days later the local council chairman, Rafiqul Islam Faruk, joined by around 200 Muslims, went to the site and ordered that the construction be cancelled immediately.

The next day, following an announcement in all local mosques, ordered by the chairman, more than 1,000 Muslims, including 72 Imams, gathered outside the chairman’s office to protest.

Faruk told World Watch Monitor that they have now formed a vigilante committee to stop Christians from “misguiding” Muslims.

“A Christian preacher has been misguiding the naïve people in this area for several years,” he said. “He is offering big bucks to the poor people to become Christians. So the poor people are becoming Christians under pressure of greed.

“So we formed a committee consisting of 13 members, including leaders from the ruling Awami League and the main opposition – Bangladesh Nationalist Party – and school teachers and elders, to stop all kinds of Christian activities here so that they cannot misguide the common people.”

Around eight of the 25 Christians have returned to Islam since September.

http://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2013/11/2849160/