The members of the country’s Christian community have expressed concerns about their safety following attacks on church priests and recent death threats issued to around 30 clergymen.
Christian leaders, however, said their priests would continue preaching while different safeguards would remain in place.
Reverend John Sagor Karmakar, assistant general secretary of Bangladesh Baptist Church Sangha (BBCS), said some 30 pastors and other clergymen have received death threats so far. Most of them have limited their own movements to a bare minimum, he added.
According to Bangladesh Christian Association (BCA), most of the threatened priests are protestants, while some of them belong to Catholic churches and some are NGO officials working with organisations such as the World Vision and HR Bangladesh.
Even yesterday, two more priests in Khulna said they have received death threats.
Several Christians told the Dhaka Tribune they cannot comprehend why their priests – who have never written against other religions or forced anyone to convert to Christianity – were being targeted.
They said living in such uncertainty and a constant state of fear was unprecedented in Bangladesh.
Seeking anonymity, a senior official of the BBCS College of Christian Technology Bangladesh said he was supposed to travel to Satkhira to teach a programme there but he is now scared to go. “I am always afraid that somebody is following me to kill me.”
Several pastors said the government should do more to ensure security for the clergymen and trace the source of the threats.
Leaders of the BBCS met at Mirpur yesterday and decided that church officials would, for the time being, not go out of their churches wearing clergy attire and would conduct their religious activities inside the church.
Meanwhile, BCA Organising Secretary William Proloy Samadder told the Dhaka Tribune that they were not panicking about the threats but were still working on the security issues.
He said a five-member team led by Archbishop Patrick D’Rozario handed over a memorandum last Sunday to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who assured that necessary security arrangements were being made. A memorandum would also be submitted to the prime minister if the situation persisted, Samadder added.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, the home minister said the law enforcement agencies have been instructed to take necessary actions for the safety of the threatened priests.
On November 18, unknown gunmen shot and wounded Italian pastor Piero Parolari in Dinajpur. On October 5, Pabna pastor Luke Sarkar was also attacked in his home by three suspected radicals.
On Wednesday, a Rangpur Baptist Church pastor received a letter with death threats against ten pastors. Another Jessore pastor later told the Dhaka Tribune that he had also received a threat over phone.
