In less than a week after the deadly attack at Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka, terror has struck Bangladesh again.
This time, suspected radical Islamists targeted a police patrol station on Sholakia ground, Kishoreganj – just outside the country’s largest Eid congregation. The attack on Thursday morning left two people dead, including one policeman, and injured at least eight others.
Early reports suggest the target was not the crowd of two lakh people who had gathered to offer Eid prayers, but a solo campaigner of anti-terrorism and anti-extremism.
Maulana Farid Uddin Masoud – the grand imam of the Sholakia mosque – was behind a groundbreaking fatwa to end terrorism in the name of Islam.
In June, more than 100,000 Islamic scholars and clerics in Bangladesh signed the fatwa, which was titled “The edict of peace for wellbeing of humanity”.
Initiated in January, the fatwa denounced the clandestine attacks on minorities and secular activists, including Hindus and Christians by suspected Islamists in Bangladesh.
“These fanatic militants are not only enemies of Islam and Muslims but also the enemies of humanity,” Masoud told Bangladesh’s The Daily Star.
Even if the fatwas fail to stop terrorism completely, it will definitely help in curbing violence.
After the blast near the mosque, the imam has condoned the violence and said his resolve has not been shaken.
Their (militants) aim is to create panic among the people to weaken the natural social resistance. But I call upon the people not to panic which will only benefit the militants’ goal and instead wage a social resistance against the extremists.
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