A vigilante committee has been formed in central Bangladesh to stop Christian activities in the local community, three months after the construction of a local church was halted, it was reported in late November.
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 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.
Muslim protest
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 said 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. Around eight of the 25 Christians have returned to Islam since September.
Faruk continued: ‘This is the second time Christians are trying to ruffle a few feathers in our Islamic society. Ten years ago some Christians tried similarly to convert some Muslims here, but we beat those Christians and they left this place forever. I was also the chairman at that time’.
