DHAKA, Apr 29: An Islamist outfit in Bangladesh pillaged a library in Tangali district of Dhaka, stealing books which they claimed were written by “atheists”. These included texts by Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam, both of whom are considered icons of national importance in the country.
Showcasing the marked rise of Islamic extremism, and the erosion of Bangladesh’s once secular-pluralistic fabric, radicals openly robbed a library in the Tangail Dhanbari’s Upazila, with the local police making next to no attempts at stopping them.
The outfit, a radical group called Khelafat Majlish, stole books on the premise that the place housed books by “atheist writers” like Kazi Nazrul Islam, Rabindranath Tagore, Zafar Iqbal, Humayun Azad, Humayun Ahmed and so on.
In total, around 400 books were taken by the group, The Dhaka Tribune reported.
In justification for the incident, the group’s leader Golam Rabbani alias Rishad Amin, the Dhanbari Upazila Organizing Secretary of Bangladesh Youth Khilafat Majlis, wrote on social media: “There will be no place for atheism in Dhanbari. This is our final statement. We have found a factory that makes atheists.
“Lock your factory and leave Dhanbari immediately. You have been acting hypocritically by illegally occupying government land for a long time. You are not getting this opportunity anymore. Let’s be clear.”
Describing the incident, the library’s general secretary Durjoy Chandra Ghosh said: “At night, 20-25 people wearing religious garb entered the library and made various threats. At that time, they entered and said, ‘Put all the books in bags. There will be no books here. Zafar Iqbal is an atheist, take all the books of Zafar Iqbal. People read atheist books from here.
“At that time, one of the mob creators said, ‘You will not have this library. You have books of Zafar Iqbal here, you have books of Prothom Alo. There is an order from above to destroy and burn it.’ Then they started putting the books in bags. Despite the presence of the detective police, they looted more than four hundred books.”
The Mohammed Yunus regime has been patronising the Islamic groups in the country, offering its full support to clerics and advisors who have openly preached anti-India narrative, called for attacks on Hindus and other minorities in the country, asked for the destruction of Mujibism, and the removal of secularism from the constitution.
(UNI)
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