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| Saudi Arabia's Rabita Al Alam Al Islami NGO. |
Despite
what officials state, the Islamists of Bangladesh have been violently urging
all non-Muslims to get out of the country. Buddhists, for example, mostly
settled in the southeast part of Bangladesh and less than 1% of the population
of 150 million, have been struggling to survive. More than 1,000 have fled; the
situation is no different for Christians and Hindus.
What is clear is that Rabita Al Alam al
Islami, known as Al-Rabita, a powerful Saudi Arabia-based non-governmenal
organization [NGO] has taken charge of Islamization, especially in the remote
areas. Since 1980, Al-Rabita has been working throughout southeast Bangladesh
to convert the hill people to Islam. There is serious concern that Al-Rabita
has been funding terrorists.
Throughout
the area, construction of mosques and madrassas [Islamic religious schools]
continues. There are now 800 mosques and nearly 300 madrassas built by
Al-Rabita. Al-Rabita also has an Islamic Missionary Center with the goal of
converting poor tribal people. This Saudi NGO has been spending millions of
dollar to promote Shariah law and violent Islamism in the country.
And
because Saudi Arabia is one of the top foreign aid donors to Bangladesh -- the
government of Bangladesh has taken no action against this NGO. Saudi Arabia has
also threatened that if it is discontented, it will send back to Bangladesh the
tens of thousands of laborers who work in Saudi Arabia.
For
three days beginning September 29, more than 25,000 radical Muslims attacked
different Buddhist communities in Bangladesh, as reported in news coverage
worldwide. The Islamist attackers claimed that a photo of a burned copy of the
Koran was posted on Facebook by a Buddhist youth.
The
youth denied the allegation and proved that someone else posted the photo in
his Facebook wall. At the mere rumor, however, thousands of radical Islamists
burned dozens of Buddhist temples and around 100 houses, and looted golden
statues of Buddha. Some valuable manuscripts written in the ancient Pali
language were also burnt to ashes.
Officials stated that the radical Islamists
used gunpowder and petrol. Afterward, the administration ordered compliance
with "CRPC section 144," which restricts gatherings of more than four
persons.
In
recent years Muslim extremism and violent tendencies, especially in the mountainous
areas of Bangladesh, have intensified. According to a Congressional Research Service Report
of 2008, the authorities in Bangladesh have expressed concern about the use of
madrassas by a network of Islamic activists being investigated in connection
with a number of incidents of violence.
The report states, "There is concern among observers that the secular underpinnings
of moderate Bangladesh are being undermined by a culture of political violence
and the rise of Islamic extremists."
In
2010, the mountainous areas were rocked by violence, reigniting decades-old
ethnic and religious tensions, as Muslim settlers set fire to hundreds of homes
of indigenous Buddhists. The attacks resulted in countless injuries and deaths.
Since
1980, there have been 20 major occurrences of massacres against the indigenous
non-Muslim people by Muslim settlers -- in co-operation with the government.
More than 100,000 Jummas -- the indigenous Buddhists -- have fled across the
border to India. Many villages have been completely burnt down by the
Islamists. Thousands of Buddhist families who were displaced have not been
resettled, and the number of poverty-stricken Buddhist refugees has
substantially increased.
These
mountainous areas with dense forests have become a safe haven for Bangladeshi
Islamist terrorists, who had previously fought in Afghanistan against the U.S.
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| Chittagong Hill Tracts the native land of Bangladeshi Buddhists facing the worsening threat of Saudi-funded Islamization. |
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