Rally against attacks in Bangladesh
Thousands gather in Dhaka to protest against extremism
DHAKA // More than 100,000 clerics and preachers rallied in the Bangladeshi capital to speak out against extremism yesterday after a resurgence of attacks by militant groups.
Organisers said the rally was staged to protest against a violent “power grab” in the name of Islam in Bangladesh, where there has been a rise in Islamic extremism.
The rally came after suicide attacks on Bangladeshi security forces that sparked police raids in which nearly two dozen sus- pected extremists were killed.
Police said prime minister Sheikh Hasina addressed more than 100,000 clerics in the park in central Dhaka where two top Saudi Arabian clerics delivered sermons against extremism.
“There is no place for terror and extremism in Islam,” Shaikh Mohammed bin Naser Al Khujaim, a senior cleric from Mecca, told the rally. “Muslims across the world must stand firm against this terror and extremism.” Dhaka police shut down major roads leading to the park and asked people to avoid busy shopping malls as they stepped up security for the rally.
Analysts said militants posed a growing danger in conservative Bangladesh, where a long-run- ning political crisis has radicalised opponents of the government. Ms Hasina’s government has blamed the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh group for a wave of deadly attacks against religious minorities and foreigners.
Many attacks, including last year’s assault on an upmarket cafe in Dhaka in which 22 people – including 18 foreign hostages – were killed, have also been claimed by ISIL, however.
The relative lull after the cafe attack was broken recently by twin blasts in the northeastern city of Sylhet, where army commandos stormed a suspected militant hideout.
The explosions fatally injured the intelligence chief of the Rapid Action Battalion, the elite force at the forefront of the fight against Islamic militancy, dealing a major blow to the security forces.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina addressed more than 100,000 clerics in Dhaka