NEWS reports in the national dailies on Tuesday said two villagers identified as members of Hizb-ut Tawhid, were killed in a clash with the same villagers at a Noakhali village in Sonaimuri upazila on Monday. The report quoting the local Superintendent of Police said the clash occurred as the Hizb-ut-Tawhid men in the village attempted to build a mosque. When the other villagers resisted it, the clash ensued. A tense situation is now prevailing in the area where police, BGB and RAB are patrolling to restore peace.
The fact is that Hizb-ut-Tawhid is known as a militant outfit and as per the media report the villagers are opposed to allow them to build the mosque. During the clash, several shops and houses were torched and vandalized which belong to both sides. In fact a dispute has been continuing over the construction of the mosque and the clash broke out as a sequel to previous enmity. On Sunday night some 100 to 150 villagers known as parties belonging to the religious outfits gathered at the house of a former UP member for a meeting. As an angry reaction, their opponents attacked the house early on Monday to cause the clash. Fire fighting units rushed to the spot to douse the fire.
What appears quite frightening is that the fights have ensued centering the construction of a mosque on what we must say based on a narrowly growing sectarian line down to the village level where peace and harmony has always prevailed so far over the generations. There is no doubt that militant Islam is causing tension and breaking social peace and harmony in many countries and we also know that civil wars and other devastation in many Muslim countries destroying their entire population. Muslims are killing Muslims in such situation and we can’t afford to create such a situation and allow it to grow in our country.
While we are totally opposed to radicalization of the village community by fanatic groups and militant forces, we must also keep eyes on the fact that nobody is using the sensitive issue to malign the opponents and settle score by branding some people as criminals by capitalizing on the emotion of common people.
The countryside is highly tense now before the Union Parishad (UP) election and there is not enough information if the village politics is having any hand from behind to knock down the opponents of some candidates. We must keep our villages as the bastion of peace and harmony and let there be extra vigilance against the rise of militancy and also the spread of politics of hatred. We must let our people to live in safety.
