After a series of attacks on shrines and desecration of graves, security has been beefed up at the Akhra Bari of mystic Baul poet and philosopher Fakir Lalon Shah in Chheuriya, Kumarkhali in Kushtia since Saturday morning.
A team comprising members of Kushtia district and Kumarkhali police stations is working there to avert any attacks by the radical Islamists, who use the banner Touhidi Janata to preach their form of Islam and destroy what they label as anti-Islam.
Also known as a social reformer and secular thinker, Lalon has become an icon of religious tolerance and secularism in Bengali culture.
The radical Muslims consider Lalonโs teachings and his followersโ lifestyle anti-Islamic. Over the last two decades, a number of Baul followers have been murdered, many others injured, and programmes suspended by militant groups and radical Islamist mobs.
European Times: How Yunus is building a Taliban-style regime
Unprecedented: Extremists dig out corpse of Nural Pagol, burn it on the highway
Mob Attacks Shrine With Police Help: Pir Azizur Rahman Bhandari forgives perpetrators
Those who oppose shrines include Jamaat-e-Islam, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, Qawmi madrasa-based platform Hefazat-e-Islam and banned militant groups like the Jamaโatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B).
Since the fall of the secularist Awami League government in August last year, over 120 shrines have been demolished and burned across the country, with the perpetrators enjoying impunity because of their affiliation with the Jamaat-Hefazat jihadist forces.
After the brutal attacks on Friday, when the corpse of a Pir was dug out from the grave and burned on the road in Rajbari, and a yearly congregation was attacked at a Darbar Sharif in Rajshahi, analysts fear more attacks on religious sites of the preachers of Sufism.
Fakir Lalon Shah’s death anniversary is on October 17. On this occasion, the government has decided to observe the day nationally. As per the rules, like previous years, the anniversary will be observed for several days through discussions and the performance of songs by guests and followers coming from across the country.
Lalon Shah’s exact birth date is debated, but a widely cited reference places it on October 14, 1772, with a close disciple, Duddu Shah, being the source for this date. Other sources also mention 1774 as his birth year.
He died on October 17, 1890. His mausoleum (or “Akhra”) was built at the site of his death in Chheuriya, becoming a place where his followers gather annually.
Apart from his death anniversary, every March, his followers gather at the Akhra Bari to attend a large annual memorial event.
On Saturday, a team of uniformed police were guarding the main gate of the Akhra Bari premises, which comprises graves, and the Lalon Academy.
Kushtia police spokesperson and Additional Superintendent of Police Faisal Mahmud said that as part of increased vigilance, police have been deployed at the Akhra Bari until further notice. โHowever, there is no threat or threat of attack. Still, we are on alert.โ
Lalon Academy President and Kushtia Deputy Commissioner Abu Hasnat Mohammad Arefin also said that the security was beefed up as part of routine police work.
English