The Hindu : Ahmadiyas to challenge ban on publications

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 12, 2004

International

International

Ahmadiyas to challenge ban on publications

By Haroon Habib

DHAKA, JAN. 11. Facing attacks from two fronts — from religious fanatics and the Government — the beleaguered Ahmadiya Muslims of Bangladesh have decided to wage a legal battle against the Khaleda Zia Government's ban on all their publications.

"We will file a writ petition with the High Court against the Government ban, which infringes on our rights of religion and non-discrimination on grounds of religion, freedom of speech, thought and conscience as enshrined in the Constitution," said a spokesman for the community. The Government on Thursday imposed a ban on all religious publications of the Ahmadiya community in view of what it said were "objectionable materials" that "hurt or might hurt the sentiments of the majority Muslims of Bangladesh".

The ban is viewed as the first step towards declaring Ahmadiyas non-Muslim, said several leading commentators, as it was imposed after fundamentalists belonging to the Islami Oikya Jote, a constituent of the ruling coalition, launched a campaign to force the Government to declare the sect non-Muslim. Several Ahmadiya families in Dhaka have come under repeated attempts by fanatics to drive them away. They are passing their days in fear and insecurity.

Meanwhile, leaders of various secular organisations and "pro-Liberation" political parties have assured the Ahmadiyas that all efforts would be made to ensure their freedom of religion. The leaders expressed the hope that conscientious people will protest violent attacks on and torture of a peace-loving sect like the Ahmadiyas. They also termed the Government's action "a clear case of using religion for political purposes" and said the ban was an act of capitulation to religious extremists.

"Today it is the Ahmadiyas, and tomorrow, who knows, it may be another sect or a religious minority that will be targeted by the fanatic elements", said an editorial of in a popular daily.

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