Ashram worker hacked to death in Bangladesh
The man who was hacked by the attackers has been working at Monastery since 40 years and he is the head of the office he was working for. “He has been serving here for the last 40 years”. Somewhat of a disturbing situation is that after the killings, the track record in pursuing these culprits – bringing them to justice – the Bangladeshi authorities have been faltering at that.
A Buddhist monk, and two prominent gay rights activists were among several others who have fallen prey to such deadly attacks by extremists in the past few months in Bangladesh.
No arrest has been made so far.
Correspondents say some of the suspects are expected to be freed after questioning. “We’ll look into all possible aspects”.
“The special drive will continue for a week from Friday”, Inspector General of Police Shahidul Hoque said.
Around 90 percent of Bangladesh’s 160 million-strong population is Muslim, with 8 percent Hindu.
Killing in northwestern district is latest attack on religious minorities just days after launch of police crackdown. But they could not say anything else regarding the assailants and their motives.
Kabir, however, said the motive behind the murder could not be ascertained yet.
This was the second murder after another priest was killed by three suspected ISIS jihadists in the Muslim-majority nation, which has seen a string of brutal attacks recently.
The government blames the growing violence on its political opponents linked to Islamist parties, aiming to create chaos and prevent war crimes trials for incidents that date back to 1971 from going ahead. Bangladesh’s home minister has suggested an Israeli link to the killings, describing an “international conspiracy” against Bangladesh. While she did not specify names, in the past she and members of her government have blamed the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s leading Islamist party, for carrying out or sponsoring the attacks, which Jamaat has denied.