Faith Under Fire........
Two Christian Families in Bangladesh Suffer Extortion, Beatings
Tuesday, 03 August 2010 07:40 AM EDT Aenon Shalom / Compass Direct News
News - Featured News
Two Christian women in Bangladesh's northern district of Jamalpur said
village officials extorted relatively large sums of money from them -
and severely beat the husband of one - for proclaiming Christ to
Muslims.
Johura Begum, 42, of Pingna village said a member of the local union
council, an area government representative and the father of a police
officer threatened to harm her grown daughters if her family did not
pay them 20,000 taka ($283). The police officer whose father was
allegedly involved in the extortion was investigating a fabricated
charge that Christians had paid Muslims to participate in a river
baptism on May 26.
Begum had invited seven converts from Islam, including three women, to
be baptized on the occasion, she said. Only six men among 55 converts
were baptized by the leaders of the Pentecostal Holiness Church of
Bangladesh (PHCB), Christian leaders said, as the rest were intimidated
by protesting Muslims; the next day, area Islamists with bullhorns
shouted death threats to Christians.
"The council member threatened me, saying I had to give him 20,000 taka
or else we could not live here with honor, dignity and security," Begum
said. "If I did not hand over the money, he said I my grown-up twin
daughters would face trouble."
Begum said her husband is a day-laborer at a rice-husking mill, and
that 20,000 taka was a "colossal amount" for them. She was able to
borrow the money from a Christian cooperative, she said.
"I gave the extortion money for the sake of our safety and security,"
Begum said. "It not possible to say aloud what abusive language they
used against me for inviting people to God."
Villagers backed by a political leader of the ruling Bangladesh Awami
League party also allegedly extorted 250,000 taka ($3,535) from another
Christian woman, 35-year-old Komola Begum of Doulatpur village, whose
husband is a successful fertilizer seller.
The villagers claimed that she and her husband had become rich by
receiving funds from Christians. After the baptisms, local Muslims beat
her husband to such an extent that he received three days of hospital
treatment for his injuries, she said.
Komola Begum, who had invited 11 persons including three women to the
baptisms, told Compass that her husband's life was spared only because
she paid what the Muslims demanded.
"My husband is a scapegoat - he simply does business," she said. "But
he was beaten for my faith and activities."
False Charge
The 55 baptisms were to have taken place on the banks of the
Brahmanputra River in Mymensingh district, 110 kilometers, or 68 miles,
north of Dhaka (Jamalpur is 140 kilometers, or 87 miles, northwest of
Dhaka).
Leaders of the PHCB congregation had begun baptizing the converts, and
the rage of area Muslims flared as they staged a loud protest at the
site, area Christians said. Police soon arrived and detained the
Christian leaders and others present.
At the police station, officers forced one of those present at the
baptism, 45-year-old Hafijur Rahman, to sign a statement accusing four
of the Christian leaders of offering him and others money to attend,
Rahman told Compass.
Police swiftly arrested two of the Christian leaders, while two were
able to flee.
Rahman told the Compass that he was not offered any money to go to the
baptism service.
"I was not aware of the content of the case copy—later I came to know
that a case was filed against the four Christian neighbors by me,"
Rahman said. "I am an illiterate man. Police took my fingerprint on a
blank paper under duress, and later they wrote everything."
Rahman said he went to the baptisms because one of his neighbors
invited him.
"I went there out of curiosity," he said. "They did not offer us any
money."
The document Rahman signed charges that he and others were offered
5,000 taka ($70) each as loan to attend a meeting in Mymensingh.
"Instead of attending a meeting, they took us to the bank of the
Brahmanputra River," the document states. "Some Christian leaders had
some of us bathed according to the Christian religion. Then some of us
protested. The Christian leaders said, ‘If you need to take loan, you
need to accept Christian religion.'"
Denying that Rahman was forced to sign the document, local Police Chief
Golam Sarwar told Compass that a fraud case was filed against four
Christians.
"They lured local Muslims by giving them 5,000 taka to become
Christian, and their activities hurt the religious sentiment of the
Muslims," Sarwar said.
For three days after the baptism ceremony, Jamalpur district villagers
announced through bullhorns the punishment Christians would receive for
their activities, chanting among other slogans, "We will peel off the
skins of the Christians." They also shouted that they would not allow
any Christians to live in that area.
Johura Begum said that when she became a Christian 20 years ago, area
Muslims beat her and forced her to leave the village, though she was
able to return three years later.
"Local Muslims bombarded us with propaganda - that when I became a
Christian, I would have to be naked in the baptism before the Christian
cleric," said Johura Begum. "Recently they are bad-mouthing
Christianity with these kinds of disgraceful and scurrilous rumors, and
my daughters cannot attend their classes."
Read more:
http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/news/29007-two-christian-families-in-bangladesh-suffer-extortion-beatings#ixzz0vc78z7em