This yearโs Holy Ashura celebrations have become a tragic incident for the Shia Muslims of Bangladesh as the Jamaat-controlled interim government refuses to acknowledge the rise in militant activities and continues to patronise the radical Islamists.
On Sunday, the home adviser said there are no militants in the country. His false claim echoes the statement of the DMP commissioner, who refused to acknowledge the rise in extremism as reported by local and international media.
Since the August 5 changeover, the country has seen hundreds of attacks on the Shia and Ahmadiyya, Hindus, and Adivasi communities by radical Islamists posing as Touhidi Janata.
They vandalised and looted houses, temples, churches, and Sufi shrines before torching the structures across the country. The law enforcers took no steps to prevent them. No visible steps have been taken to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Instead, the government used the courts to acquit the militants from jail accused of attacking the Bogura Shia mosque in 2015, commute the sentences for the Holey Artisan Bakery attack, and delay the appeals case in the bombing of the Hussaini Dalan during Ashura celebrations the same year.
All three attacks were carried out by a local offshoot of the Syria-based Islamic State (IS).
Under such circumstances, the Shia community brought out a Tazia procession from Hussaini Dalan on Nazimuddin Road in Old Dhaka in the capital to observe the Holy Ashura in memory of the tragic events of Karbala.
In the procession that started at 10am on Sunday, people were seen joining with Tazia, Alam, Jhula, Tabat, symbols of various memories of the Karbala desert on this day of the martyrdom of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA), the beloved grandson of Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH).
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In 2022, Dhaka’s Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal sentenced two militants to jail over the deadly bomb attack on Hussaini Dalan in 2015.
On the night of October 23, 2015, a series of explosions ripped through Hussaini Dalal as the Shia Muslims were preparing for the traditional Tazia procession to mark Ashura. The blasts killed two people and left at least 100 others injured.
According to the case statements, 13 JMB militants were involved in the attack. One attacker hurled bombs into the crowd while five others filmed the attack.
Of the attackers, three were killed in gunfights with the police.
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