Police in the northern district of Lalmonirhat have made special security arrangements for the local Christians after the priest of a church received death threat, allegedly from the Islamic State.
Reverend Tapan Barman, priest of the Lalmonirhat Church of God, filed a general diary (GD) with the Sadar police station on late Saturday night seeking protection.
The handwritten letter in Bangla reads: “Fathers, priests, eat whatever food you want to by December 20. And do not forget to say goodbye to your wives. The commander of Syria IS has sent a letter to us seeking you severed head. Soon we will send him your head as gift.
“We have been given the instruction to shoot and kill those who have been preaching Christianity in Lalmonirhat district. They will be killed as soon as possible. We have exploded bombs at the Kantaji temple. When time comes, we will make everyone understand whether we have the power.”
The credit line of the letter reads: “Commander IS, Bangladesh wing-Dinajpur.”
Reverend Tapan becomes the 12th Christianity preacher in several districts in the north of Bangladesh to have received death threats in the last couple of months. Over the same period, there have been attempts on the lives of several Christian priests in these districts.
Tapan told the Dhaka Tribune: “After receiving the hand-written letter with IS’s name, we have had discussions among ourselves and informed the local police station about it.”
AHM Mahfuzur Rahman, OC of the Lalmonirhat police station, said: “Reverend Tapan Barman has filed a GD with us seeking legal help and protection. We are now investigating the matter. In addition, we have also made special security arrangements for the people belonging to the Christian community.”
When contacted, Lalmonirhat district police chief Mojahidul Islam said: “We are not ruling out the chances [that IS could be involved]. But we are keeping things under strict observation to know if the matter is believable. Investigation is also going on.”