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Fear stalks Bangladesh’s Christians after attacks
Rubya Tripty: Bidhan Kamol Rosario, 65 was a freedom fighter who left his Catholic village to join liberation war now is living in fear in the Muslim majority country.
Ahead of Pope Francis’ first visit in Bangladesh in more than 30 years, many Catholics say practicing their faith in this country never has been so difficult.
Catholics leaders said many of them left Bangladesh in recent years for being targeted by Islamists.
Last year, a Catholic grocer hacked to death during a campaign by Islamist extremists.
Rosario said that he joined liberation war in 1971 to get such a country where all types of people from all races, faiths, creed, and religions will live together. “ I never wanted favors for myself, I wanted equality, But now I do not believe there is any equality for us.”
Rosario lives is Nagori, a small cluster of the village near capital Dhaka where Catholics have been living since the 17th century in harmony with a local Muslim majority.
Local Catholics say they now feel threatened by Islamist extremist as many minorities, foreigners, secular bloggers had been murdered by them.
Tensions with Bangladesh authorities also been risen as in March villagers accused plain clothed polices raided home of a widow and stole money. When villagers tried to prevent plain clothed police from leaving the area, armed police were sent that led to a violent stand-off leaving at least 20 local injured.
“I have never seen these things before. We grew up in perfect harmony with other faiths,” another Catholic Nirmol Rosario told AFP.
Alcohol also has become an issue, drinking of non-muslim is legal in Bangladesh but locals claimed of being harassed by police frequently.
Pope Francis will bring a message of peace and religious tolerance on his visit to Bangladesh, an impoverished country that has won praise in recent months for taking in more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees from neighboring Myanmar.
He is not scheduled to travel to the overcrowded camps in southern Bangladesh, but will meet a small group of Rohingya during an interfaith meeting in Dhaka on Friday.
Ahead of the Pope’s visit Gabriel Amal Costa, a Bangladeshi missionary, said a rise in Islamist extremism was straining religious ties.
“People had always lived together peacefully in Bangladesh, but unfortunately now Islamist extremism is on the rise,” he told AFP in Rome.
“This is a very recent phenomenon and the Church is trying to promote interfaith dialogue,” he said in comments translated from Italian.
The attacks reached a peak last year, but the situation has improved since a major crackdown in which scores of suspected militants were shot dead and hundreds arrested.