Staff Reporter :
In the wake of terror attacks and threats on the priests, the law enforcement agencies have taken additional security measures in and around the temples, churches, pagodas and other religious centres of minorities in the capital and elsewhere in the country.
“As a professional, we know that the militant attack doesn’t take place mentioning time and place. But we’re analyzing the latest ‘terror threats’ with high importance,” Abdul Baten, Joint Commissioner, Detective Branch, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said on Saturday.
The official was detailing the latest step of law enforcement agencies following the threat of IS [Islamic State] on a priest at Dhaka’s Ramakrishna Mission on Wednesday. The threat came in the form of a letter where the Hindu priest was ordered by the suspected militants not to preach his religion, otherwise he would be hacked to death.
According to police, one ‘AB Siddique’ apparently sent the letter. He used Gazipur as his addresses on the envelope. Typed in a computer, the letter-head mentioned — ‘Islamic State of Bangladesh, Chandna intersection, Eidgah Market, Gazipur Municipality.
“We’re also inquiring about the organization, in whose pad was used to write down the threat letter,” the Joint Commissioner said.
The threat letter said: ‘Bangladesh is an Islamic state, you can’t preach your religion here. If you continue preaching, you’ll be hacked to death with machetes between the 20th and 30th.” The letter, however, didn’t mention any month.
In this backdrop, Abdul Baten said: “The neighbouring country has expressed anxiety over the militant’s threat on priest. So, security measures have been beefed up in all religious centres, including mosques, temples, churches and pagodas.”
In the wake of terror attacks on the secular activists and minorities in different parts of the country, the district administration of Naraynaganj last week took special security measures in all temples of the district, local sources said.
On June 10, a monastery worker Nitya Ranjan Pande, 60, worked at Sri Sri Thakur Anukul Chandra Satsangha Ashram in Pabna Sadar upazila was hacked to death in a fashion similar to previous suspected militant killings.
On June 7, an elderly Hindu priest Anando Gopal Ganguly, 70, working at Naldanga Siddheshwari temple was hacked to death in Jhenidah Sadar in a manner similar to previous suspected militant killings while the Islamic State claimed the responsibility of the murder.
U Damma Oaing Cha Bhikkhu, a 73-year-old Buddhist monk was found dead, with his throat slit, in his temple in Naikkhangchhari upazila of Bandarban on May 15. The murder was claimed by IS.
A Christian was knifed to death after Sunday prayers near a church in northwest Bangladesh in an attack claimed by Islamic State. A 65-year-old Christian Sunil Gomes was hacked to death at his grocery store just near a church at Bonpara village in Natore on June 5. Both the murders were claimed by the IS.
