Home » Four killed in Bangladesh during protests against Modi visit

Four killed in Bangladesh during protests against Modi visit

by Siam Sarower Jamil
0 comment 2 minutes read

By Siam Sarower Jamil
Dhaka, Mar 26:

Four supporters of a hardline Islamist group were shot dead in Bangladesh on Friday in violent demonstrations over Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tour to Dhaka, officials said.
It comes as Bangladesh marks 50 years of independence from Pakistan with celebrations focused on its economic achievements, which activist groups say have been overshadowed by rights abuses.
Police said four bodies of members of Hefazat-e-Islam, a hardline Islamist group, were brought to Chittagong Medical College Hospital after violence erupted at Hathazari, a rural town where the group’s main leaders are based.
“We got four bodies here. They are all hit with bullets. Three of them are madrasa students and another a tailor,” Alauddin Talukder, a police inspector at the hospital, told Imphal Times.
He said at least four other demonstrators were critically injured but did not say who opened fire.
Ruhul Amin, the government administrator of Hathazari town, said up to 1,500 supporters of Hefazat attacked a police station chanting anti-Modi slogans.
“They attacked us all of a sudden,” he said, without confirming whether any protesters were killed.
Hathazari is home to one of Bangladesh’s largest madrasas and is the headquarters of the Hefazot, which was formed in 2010 and is believed to be the country’s largest hardline Islamist outfit.
Hefazat spokesman Mir Idris accused police of “opening fire” at their “peaceful” supporters.
“There were some 5,000 protesters. They were all Hefazat supporters and they were mostly madrasa students. They were protesting Modi’s visit and police actions against demonstrators in Dhaka,” he said.
He was referring to other smaller clashes at the compound of the country’s largest mosque in central Dhaka after Friday prayers when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at brick-throwing Islamist supporters.
At least nine of these protesters were injured, he said.
Hefazat is known for its nationwide network and large-scale protests demanding blasphemy laws in Bangladesh. In 2013 police clashed with tens of thousands of Hefazat supporters in Dhaka.
Hefazat aside, a diverse range of Bangladeshi groups — including students, leftist and other Islamist outfits — have been staging protests over the last few days against Modi’s visit.
They accuse Modi of stoking religious tensions and inciting anti-Muslim violence in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002, which left about 1,000 people dead. Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister at the time.
On Thursday more than 40 people were injured, including four police officers, during a left student demonstration. At least 33 people were detained for violence.
Clashes also occurred at the elite state-run Dhaka University Thursday evening, when pro-government student activists allegedly beat dozens of anti-Modi student protesters.

You may also like

Leave a Comment

ABOUT US

Imphal Times is a daily English newspaper published in Imphal and is registered with Registrar of the Newspapers for India with Regd. No MANENG/2013/51092

FOLLOW US ON IG

©2023 – All Right Reserved. Designed and Hosted by eManipur!

Adblock Detected

Please support us by disabling your AdBlocker extension from your browsers for our website.