Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Dhaka (Fides Service) - The new Catholic Archbishop of Dhaka Paulinus Costa will be installed in the city’s Cathedral tomorrow 9 September during a solemn Mass in the presence of civil and religious authorities, numerous priests, religious and faithful.
However the celebration will take place in an atmosphere of tension in the capital with a massive deployment of police. This is a consequence of terrorist attacks in August which put Bangladesh in the international headlines after more than 400 explosions all over the country plunging the people into panic and fear. Responsibility for the attacks was claimed by extremist Islamic groups which the government sought to suppress with a massive offensive on terrorism.
“Fear and uncertainty prevail”, Italian Xaverian missionary Fr Silvano Garello 35 years Bangladesh told Fides. “The Christian community is particularly prudent, fearing it may be a target for fundamentalist groups which show considerable capacity for capillary organisation” the missionary said.
After the attacks on 17 August 160 suspects were arrested by the police. The 400 explosions, all small, happened in less than an hour killing a few people and injuring more than 100. The targets were courts, markets, airports, hotels, shopping centres in 64 different towns and cities including the capital Dhaka and Chittagong port.
The perpetrators were two Islamic fundamentalist groups outlawed by the government in February 2005: Jagrata Muslim Janata Banglasdesh and Jamayetul Mujaheddin which claimed responsiblity for the attacks demanding the installation of Sharia law.
According to the Awami League - opposition coalition in parliament where Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by the premier Khaleda Zia is the majority - there are at least thirty of these groups in Bangladesh. The two groups who claimed responsiblity for the 17 August attacks are said to have planned the explosions to protest the government’s move, following national and international pressure, to ban them in February this year.
For some time observers have warned that the situation of extreme poverty of the people of Bangladesh, 140 million 85% Muslim, is a seedbed for Islamic fundamentalism.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 8/9/2005 righe 35 parole 347)
