<a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/bangladesh-slams-us-statement-over-polls-observers-186042">Bangladesh's Election Commission</a> on Sunday allowed Jamaat-e-Islami, a crucial ally of jailed former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Opposition BNP, to contest the December 30 general elections, two months after it scraped the fundamentalist party's registration.

The Jamaat will contest from 25 seats in the parliamentary polls with 'sheaf of paddy', the electoral symbol of the BNP.&nbsp;

"The Commission does not have a legal option to cancel their (Jamaat leaders) candidacies. Their candidatures will, therefore, stay in place," EC secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed told reporters here.&nbsp;

The EC's decision came after the High Court earlier this week directed it to swiftly decide on a plea of 25 leaders of the unregistered party to contest the election as independent candidates on behalf of their alliance partners.

On October 29, the EC formally scrapped Jamaat's registration as a political party in compliance with an order of the Supreme Court.

A high court bench in 2013 declared Jamaat's registration with the EC illegal on a writ petition filed by several Islamic groups, saying the party's ideology was contrary to Bangladesh's Constitution.

The Supreme Court upheld the high court judgment when Jamaat challenged the verdict in the apex court.

The hardline Islamist party, however, is now in a dilapidated state with most of its senior leaders executed in the past five years after being convicted by special tribunals on 1971 war crimes charges.

Jamaat was opposed to Bangladesh's 1971 independence from West Pakistan and its leaders and workers sided with Pakistani troops in carrying out atrocities and genocide in then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

Bangladesh's post-independence government banned Jamaat but the subsequent regimes withdrew the ban allowing the party to re-emerge in politics.

The party became a crucial partner of Zia's BNP-led four-party alliance government in 2001 and its chief Moti-ur-Rahman Nizami and secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed became ministers.

The incumbent Awami League government assuming power after its victory in the 2008 elections and initiated a process to bring to justice the Bengali perpetrators of the 1971 war crimes.

Both Nizami and Mujaheed were sentenced to death along with several other party stalwarts by special courts.

Bangladesh's Election Commission on Sunday allowed Jamaat-e-Islami, a crucial ally of jailed former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Opposition BNP, to contest the December 30 general elections, two months after it scraped the fundamentalist party's registration.

Bangladesh's Election Commission on Sunday allowed Jamaat-e-Islami, a crucial ally of jailed former prime minister Khaleda Zia's Opposition BNP, to contest the December 30 general elections, two months after it scraped the fundamentalist party's registration. The Jamaat will contest from 25 seats in the parliamentary polls with 'sheaf of paddy', the electoral symbol of the BNP. "The Commission does not have a legal option to cancel their (Jamaat leaders) candidacies. Their candidatures will, therefore, stay in place," EC secretary Helal Uddin Ahmed told reporters here. The EC's decision came after the High Court earlier this week directed it to swiftly decide on a plea of 25 leaders of the unregistered party to contest the election as independent candidates on behalf of their alliance partners. On October 29, the EC formally scrapped Jamaat's registration as a political party in compliance with an order of the Supreme Court. A high court bench in 2013 declared Jamaat's registration with the EC illegal on a writ petition filed by several Islamic groups, saying the party's ideology was contrary to Bangladesh's Constitution. The Supreme Court upheld the high court judgment when Jamaat challenged the verdict in the apex court. The hardline Islamist party, however, is now in a dilapidated state with most of its senior leaders executed in the past five years after being convicted by special tribunals on 1971 war crimes charges. Jamaat was opposed to Bangladesh's 1971 independence from West Pakistan and its leaders and workers sided with Pakistani troops in carrying out atrocities and genocide in then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Bangladesh's post-independence government banned Jamaat but the subsequent regimes withdrew the ban allowing the party to re-emerge in politics. The party became a crucial partner of Zia's BNP-led four-party alliance government in 2001 and its chief Moti-ur-Rahman Nizami and secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujaheed became ministers. The incumbent Awami League government assuming power after its victory in the 2008 elections and initiated a process to bring to justice the Bengali perpetrators of the 1971 war crimes. Both Nizami and Mujaheed were sentenced to death along with several other party stalwarts by special courts.

Bangladesh EC allows hardline Islamist party to contest upcoming general election 

Top leaders of Bangladesh&#39;s largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami were arrested today for allegedly planning to create &quot;political anarchy&quot; in the country, media reports said.

Police have arrested Jamaat-e-Islami chief Maqbul Ahmed, Secretary General Shafiqur Rahman and several other top leaders of the party, bdnews reported.

Police raided a house where the Jamaat leaders met to discuss a plan to &quot;create political anarchy&quot;, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner Sheikh Nazmul Alam was quoted as saying by the report.

He said landlord Nawsher Ali was also among nine arrested during the raid. The others include former minister Mia Golam Parwar, Chittagong Jamaat chief Shahjahan, Secretary General Nazrul Islam, and Chittagong South unit chief Zafar Sadique.

Mujibur Rahman, a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami condemned the arrest, saying it was &quot;part of a plan to leave the party leaderless after the murder of its top brass in the name of war crimes trial&quot;.

He claimed his party was &quot;systematic, democratic and legal&quot; and that the leaders met informally.

 
&nbsp;

The Jamaat-e-Islami is Bangladesh's largest Islamist party

Top leaders of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami were arrested today for allegedly planning to create "political anarchy" in the country, media reports said. Police have arrested Jamaat-e-Islami chief Maqbul Ahmed, Secretary General Shafiqur Rahman and several other top leaders of the party, bdnews reported. Police raided a house where the Jamaat leaders met to discuss a plan to "create political anarchy", Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner Sheikh Nazmul Alam was quoted as saying by the report. He said landlord Nawsher Ali was also among nine arrested during the raid. The others include former minister Mia Golam Parwar, Chittagong Jamaat chief Shahjahan, Secretary General Nazrul Islam, and Chittagong South unit chief Zafar Sadique. Mujibur Rahman, a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami condemned the arrest, saying it was "part of a plan to leave the party leaderless after the murder of its top brass in the name of war crimes trial". He claimed his party was "systematic, democratic and legal" and that the leaders met informally.

Bangladesh: Top Jamaat-e-Islami leaders arrested for planning 'political anarchy'

&nbsp;

Social networking giant Facebook has reportedly removed the Facebook page of Jamaat-e-Islami for &#39;coverage of atrocities in Indian held Kashmir&#39;, a statement issued by the party said on Wednesday.

The Facebook post on Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi page claimed that the deleted page was &#39;first regarding overall page reach of any political party&#39; and had more than 3 million likes.

The post also claimed that Facebook had previously removed or blocked accounts of people who had used Muzaffar Wani Shaheed&#39;s photo as their profile picture.

&nbsp;

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Social Media head of Jamat-i-Islami Shamsuddin Amjad, confirmed to Pakistan&#39;s english newspaper Dawn&nbsp;that &ldquo;the party&rsquo;s official page was removed on Wednesday evening&rdquo;.

Amjad told Dawn that Facebook had also removed two other pages operated by the party in the past two days.

&quot;The party pages representing Jamaat&#39;s zonal sections Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Women Wing were removed on Tuesday,&quot; he told Dawn.

In July, actor Hamza Ali Abbasi&#39;s Facebook post praising Burhan Wani was removed from the networking site. His account was first suspended but later reactivated after the concerned post was removed.

&nbsp;

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
My FB accnt deactivated for talking abt KASHMIR. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kashmir?src=hash">#Kashmir</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreeKashmir?src=hash">#FreeKashmir</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIPFreedomOfExpression?src=hash">#RIPFreedomOfExpression</a> <a href="https://t.co/JH0XRAYEa2">pic.twitter.com/JH0XRAYEa2</a>
&mdash; Hamza Ali Abbasi (@iamhamzaabbasi) <a href="https://twitter.com/iamhamzaabbasi/status/755130614647578624">July 18, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

&nbsp;

Kashmir has been mired in violence ever since Hizbul Mujahideen commander&nbsp;Burhan Wani was shot dead by Indian security forces. Anti-India protests, deadly clashes with Indian forces soon ensued.

(WION)

Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi's Facebook post claimed that the deleted page was 'first regarding overall page reach of any political party'

Social networking giant Facebook has reportedly removed the Facebook page of Jamaat-e-Islami for 'coverage of atrocities in Indian held Kashmir', a statement issued by the party said on Wednesday. The Facebook post on Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi page claimed that the deleted page was 'first regarding overall page reach of any political party' and had more than 3 million likes. The post also claimed that Facebook had previously removed or blocked accounts of people who had used Muzaffar Wani Shaheed's photo as their profile picture. Social Media head of Jamat-i-Islami Shamsuddin Amjad, confirmed to Pakistan's english newspaper Dawn that “the party’s official page was removed on Wednesday evening”. Amjad told Dawn that Facebook had also removed two other pages operated by the party in the past two days. "The party pages representing Jamaat's zonal sections Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Women Wing were removed on Tuesday," he told Dawn. In July, actor Hamza Ali Abbasi's Facebook post praising Burhan Wani was removed from the networking site. His account was first suspended but later reactivated after the concerned post was removed. My FB accnt deactivated for talking abt KASHMIR. #Kashmir #FreeKashmir #RIPFreedomOfExpression pic.twitter.com/JH0XRAYEa2 — Hamza Ali Abbasi (@iamhamzaabbasi) July 18, 2016 Kashmir has been mired in violence ever since Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was shot dead by Indian security forces. Anti-India protests, deadly clashes with Indian forces soon ensued. (WION)

Facebook page removed for 'coverage of atrocities' in Kashmir, says Jamaat-e-Islami

The execution of Jamaat-e-Islami financier Mir Quasem Ali for committing war crimes in 1971 has ignited an angry&nbsp;diplomatic&nbsp;debate between Pakistan and Bangladesh. 
 
Pakistan said it was &quot;deeply&nbsp;saddened&quot; about the hanging of Quasem as his execution took place due to a &quot;flawed judicial process&quot;. 
 
Bangladesh reacted to the statement by summoning Pakistani Acting High Commissioner Samina Mehtab and&nbsp;handing him a &ldquo;note verbale&rdquo; to mark their strong protest, local news website bdnews24.com reported. 
 
Quasem was handed a death sentence by the International Crime Tribunal on two counts, including kidnapping and murder of a teenager who wanted East Pakistan to become a separate country. 
 
It must be remembered that East Pakistan, present-day Bangladesh, was a Pakistani state till they fought a war in 1971 to carve their own state. 
 
&quot;The act of suppressing the Opposition through flawed trials is completely against the spirit of democracy,&quot; Pakistan&nbsp;Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Zakaria had said in reaction to Quasem&#39;s death.&nbsp;&quot;The government of Bangladesh should uphold its commitment, as per the Tripartite Agreement of 1974, wherein it &#39;decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency&#39;.&quot; 
 
Quasem was executed in a high-security prison in Bangladesh on Saturday night. 
 
(WION with inputs from agencies) 
&nbsp;

 
 
&nbsp;

Jamaat-e-Islami financier Mir Quasem Ali's hanging elicited an 'unfair trial' response from Pakistan to which Bangladesh strongly retaliated

The execution of Jamaat-e-Islami financier Mir Quasem Ali for committing war crimes in 1971 has ignited an angry diplomatic debate between Pakistan and Bangladesh. Pakistan said it was "deeply saddened" about the hanging of Quasem as his execution took place due to a "flawed judicial process". Bangladesh reacted to the statement by summoning Pakistani Acting High Commissioner Samina Mehtab and handing him a “note verbale” to mark their strong protest, local news website bdnews24.com reported. Quasem was handed a death sentence by the International Crime Tribunal on two counts, including kidnapping and murder of a teenager who wanted East Pakistan to become a separate country. It must be remembered that East Pakistan, present-day Bangladesh, was a Pakistani state till they fought a war in 1971 to carve their own state. "The act of suppressing the Opposition through flawed trials is completely against the spirit of democracy," Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Zakaria had said in reaction to Quasem's death. "The government of Bangladesh should uphold its commitment, as per the Tripartite Agreement of 1974, wherein it 'decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency'." Quasem was executed in a high-security prison in Bangladesh on Saturday night. (WION with inputs from agencies)

War criminal's execution sparks Pakistan-Bangladesh row

Mir Quasem Ali, leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, was hanged for 1971 war crimes on Saturday night. 
 
The execution took place at 10.30pm, Bangladesh authorities told local news website bdnews24.com.
 
Ali is the sixth Islamist to be hanged for committing crimes during the&nbsp;country&rsquo;s 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan. 
 
The execution comes&nbsp;around a week&nbsp;after the country&#39;s Supreme Court rejected Ali&#39;s final review petition.
The Kashimpur Central Jail had received the executive order for the media tycoon&#39;s death sentence earlier today. 
 
Bangladesh&#39;s elite force Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Armed Police Battalion and police &ndash; around 50 in number &ndash; were deployed outside the jail,&nbsp;The Daily Star&nbsp;reported.&nbsp; 
 
A Bangladesh tribunal had sentenced five to execution in a trial initiated in 2010 for the 1971 war criminals. 
 
Ali had refused to seek presidential mercy, Jail superintendent Prashanta Kumar Banik told the media. 
 
Ali was sentenced to death in 2014 for war crimes by the International Crimes Tribunal. 
 
(WION with inputs from PTI)

Mir Quasem Ali was hanged at 10.30pm on Saturday, authorities said

Mir Quasem Ali, leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, was hanged for 1971 war crimes on Saturday night. The execution took place at 10.30pm, Bangladesh authorities told local news website bdnews24.com. Ali is the sixth Islamist to be hanged for committing crimes during the country’s 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan. The execution comes around a week after the country's Supreme Court rejected Ali's final review petition. The Kashimpur Central Jail had received the executive order for the media tycoon's death sentence earlier today. Bangladesh's elite force Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Armed Police Battalion and police – around 50 in number – were deployed outside the jail, The Daily Star reported. A Bangladesh tribunal had sentenced five to execution in a trial initiated in 2010 for the 1971 war criminals. Ali had refused to seek presidential mercy, Jail superintendent Prashanta Kumar Banik told the media. Ali was sentenced to death in 2014 for war crimes by the International Crimes Tribunal. (WION with inputs from PTI)

Bangladesh: Jamaat-linked tycoon executed for 1971 war crimes

Long before they were swept away by the apocalyptic ideology of the Islamic State (IS), consuming its nihilistic violence on social media and celebrating their victories in battlefields as the militant group held sway in Iraq and Syria to establish a caliphate, the process of radicalisation for some Indians, accused of setting up an IS-inspired terror group, actually began at home, through religious revivalist movements like the Tablighi Jamaat and the Jamaat-E-Islami Hind (JIH). 
 
The two religious organisations and a Deoband preacher are accused of influencing over half a dozen young men to wage a violent jihad. 
The damning disclosure is made by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a charge sheet filed last week against 17 men accused of forming an organisation, Junood ul Khilafa fil Hind, to establish a caliphate in India. 
 
The charge sheet throws light on the motivational factors that incited them to find like-minded associates to help them travel to the land of jihad in Syria, or failing to do so carry jihad at home. 
 
Before IS propaganda videos and magazines appeared on social media websites, the journey of indoctrination of these accused started with institutions like the revivalist Sunni proselytizing movement of Tablighi, lectures in mosques across the country and jihadi literature available online. 
 
In the Islamophobic world after 9/11, Mumbai resident Mudabbir Sheikh - anointed as the emir, chief of the Junood ul Khilafa group - was upset that society had turned against Muslims, who were looked down upon as terrorists and treated as &lsquo;second-class citizens&rsquo;. 
 
In 2007, Sheikh came into contact with an online group, Mujahid Fi Sabiullah, which directed him to contact the JIH to fulfil his desire to join the jihad. &ldquo;He started visiting the JIH office in Byculla, Mumbai, attended several programmes and got radicalised,&rsquo;&rsquo; the NIA charge sheet states. 
 
Sheikh is accused of preparing IEDs and timer bombs at home. He also received hawala money and distributed it among other members of Junood ul Khilafa. The JIH is an offshoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami (now in Pakistan), founded in 1941, and works as a religious organisation with a secular outlook. 
 
In 2013, its Mumbai chapter slapped the Maharashtra state with a defamation suit of Rs 10 crore for alleging that it was training and radicalising Muslim girls for jihadi activities. 
 
A resident of the western Indian state of Rajasthan, Abu Anas, Mohammad Shareef Moinuddin Khan from Hyderabad and Asif Ali from Bengaluru had all joined the Tablighi movement before they were recruited as cadres of Junood ul Khilafa. After finishing class 10, Asif entered the chillah, where one spends 40 days with members of the Tablighi and learnt about Islamic theology, how to offer namaz and how to bring back the misguided into the religious fold. 
 
Following this, the 21-year-old stone polisher became a &lsquo;fully transformed man.&rsquo; 
 
&ldquo;It was the time spent with the Tablighi that made Asif a religious bigot with a narrow understanding of religious scriptures and a narrow world view,&rsquo;&rsquo; the charge sheet adds. 
 
IT expert and ethical hacker, Anas and Moinuddin, were also influenced by the Tablighi movement and the former tried to recruit pro-IS cadre in Pune. He found the support of like-minded people associated with the Tablighi movement, who, although did not take part in any terror activities, gave a zakaat (donation) of Rs 20,000 to the cause of the Caliphate. 
 
The NIA accuses Delhi-based Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi, alumni of Darul Ulum Deoband, of inciting, motivating and instigating Muslim youths who sought his guidance to wage a jihad through a number of sermons in the Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. 
 
The NIA investigations found the speeches to be &ldquo;incriminating, vitriolic, and explicitly and unequivocally supporting the IS.&rdquo; 
 
At least five accused contacted or met Qasmi during his lectures to discuss about the IS and caliphate. He told them that one must make the hijrah migration to Syria. The radical preacher also held al Baghdadi&rsquo;s Caliphate as legitimate in the light of Quran and &lsquo;Sunnah&rsquo; and helped clear doubts on jihad, ultimately convincing others to join the jihad and gave their full support to the IS. 
 
The NIA has mentioned Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Azhar Masood and its mouthpiece al-Qalam as another influencing source for the IS-accused. Literature like Hijra , Jihad ke Maasail, Al Furqan Wal Mizzan, Afghan Jihad and Wazb e Hind ka Shehbaz and manual guides on IEDs and bomb-making were seized from the accused. 
 
(DNA)

Caliphate has begun taking shape in India, said NIA in a charge sheet filed against 17 Indian men accused of forming a radical organisation

Long before they were swept away by the apocalyptic ideology of the Islamic State (IS), consuming its nihilistic violence on social media and celebrating their victories in battlefields as the militant group held sway in Iraq and Syria to establish a caliphate, the process of radicalisation for some Indians, accused of setting up an IS-inspired terror group, actually began at home, through religious revivalist movements like the Tablighi Jamaat and the Jamaat-E-Islami Hind (JIH). The two religious organisations and a Deoband preacher are accused of influencing over half a dozen young men to wage a violent jihad. The damning disclosure is made by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a charge sheet filed last week against 17 men accused of forming an organisation, Junood ul Khilafa fil Hind, to establish a caliphate in India. The charge sheet throws light on the motivational factors that incited them to find like-minded associates to help them travel to the land of jihad in Syria, or failing to do so carry jihad at home. Before IS propaganda videos and magazines appeared on social media websites, the journey of indoctrination of these accused started with institutions like the revivalist Sunni proselytizing movement of Tablighi, lectures in mosques across the country and jihadi literature available online. In the Islamophobic world after 9/11, Mumbai resident Mudabbir Sheikh - anointed as the emir, chief of the Junood ul Khilafa group - was upset that society had turned against Muslims, who were looked down upon as terrorists and treated as ‘second-class citizens’. In 2007, Sheikh came into contact with an online group, Mujahid Fi Sabiullah, which directed him to contact the JIH to fulfil his desire to join the jihad. “He started visiting the JIH office in Byculla, Mumbai, attended several programmes and got radicalised,’’ the NIA charge sheet states. Sheikh is accused of preparing IEDs and timer bombs at home. He also received hawala money and distributed it among other members of Junood ul Khilafa. The JIH is an offshoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami (now in Pakistan), founded in 1941, and works as a religious organisation with a secular outlook. In 2013, its Mumbai chapter slapped the Maharashtra state with a defamation suit of Rs 10 crore for alleging that it was training and radicalising Muslim girls for jihadi activities. A resident of the western Indian state of Rajasthan, Abu Anas, Mohammad Shareef Moinuddin Khan from Hyderabad and Asif Ali from Bengaluru had all joined the Tablighi movement before they were recruited as cadres of Junood ul Khilafa. After finishing class 10, Asif entered the chillah, where one spends 40 days with members of the Tablighi and learnt about Islamic theology, how to offer namaz and how to bring back the misguided into the religious fold. Following this, the 21-year-old stone polisher became a ‘fully transformed man.’ “It was the time spent with the Tablighi that made Asif a religious bigot with a narrow understanding of religious scriptures and a narrow world view,’’ the charge sheet adds. IT expert and ethical hacker, Anas and Moinuddin, were also influenced by the Tablighi movement and the former tried to recruit pro-IS cadre in Pune. He found the support of like-minded people associated with the Tablighi movement, who, although did not take part in any terror activities, gave a zakaat (donation) of Rs 20,000 to the cause of the Caliphate. The NIA accuses Delhi-based Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi, alumni of Darul Ulum Deoband, of inciting, motivating and instigating Muslim youths who sought his guidance to wage a jihad through a number of sermons in the Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. The NIA investigations found the speeches to be “incriminating, vitriolic, and explicitly and unequivocally supporting the IS.” At least five accused contacted or met Qasmi during his lectures to discuss about the IS and caliphate. He told them that one must make the hijrah migration to Syria. The radical preacher also held al Baghdadi’s Caliphate as legitimate in the light of Quran and ‘Sunnah’ and helped clear doubts on jihad, ultimately convincing others to join the jihad and gave their full support to the IS. The NIA has mentioned Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Azhar Masood and its mouthpiece al-Qalam as another influencing source for the IS-accused. Literature like Hijra , Jihad ke Maasail, Al Furqan Wal Mizzan, Afghan Jihad and Wazb e Hind ka Shehbaz and manual guides on IEDs and bomb-making were seized from the accused. (DNA)

Who radicalised Islamic State suspects in India?

A Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in western Bangladesh today, police said, the latest in a series of attacks on religious minorities by suspected Islamists. 
 
Shyamananda Das, who helped conduct prayers at the Radhamadan Gopal Bigraha Math in Jhenaidah district, was killed by three men on a motorcycle as he was walking on a highway adjacent to his temple early in the morning, police said. 
 
&quot;They hacked him on his neck three times and there was one stabbing mark in his head,&quot; deputy police chief of the district Gopinath Kanjilal told AFP. 
 
&quot;He died after he was brought to a hospital.&quot; 
 
Kanjilal said Das, also known as Babaji, was &quot;a priest&quot; in the temple. But local police station chief inspector Hasan Hafizur Rahman told AFP the 50-year-old man was &quot;a temple volunteer who helps conduct prayers&quot;. 
 
&quot;He was an itinerant temple volunteer who travels from one temple to another to serve the Hindu devotees. He came to this temple only yesterday,&quot; he said. 
 
Police said no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but that it the bore the hallmarks of the recent murders of people from the country&#39;s religious minorities by suspected home-grown Islamist militants. 
 
&quot;The pattern of the killing is similar&quot; to ones carried out by local Islamist militants, Rahman said. 
 
Last month a Hindu priest, 70-year-old Ananda Gopal Ganguly, was also hacked to death in a rice paddy field in the same district near his home. 
 
Deputy police chief Kanjilal said a student activist from the country&#39;s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, has been arrested over the attack and he had allegedly admitted his role in the killing. 
 
Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of murders of secular and liberal activists and religious minorities that have some 50 people dead in the last three years. 
 
Victims of the attacks by suspected Islamists have included secular bloggers, gay rights activists and followers of minority religions. 
 
Although it is officially secular, around 90 per cent of Bangladesh&#39;s 160 million-strong population is Muslim and about one in ten are Hindu. 
 
(AFP)

Police say the attack bears the hallmarks of the recent murders of people belonging to the country's religious minorities

A Hindu temple worker was hacked to death in western Bangladesh today, police said, the latest in a series of attacks on religious minorities by suspected Islamists. Shyamananda Das, who helped conduct prayers at the Radhamadan Gopal Bigraha Math in Jhenaidah district, was killed by three men on a motorcycle as he was walking on a highway adjacent to his temple early in the morning, police said. "They hacked him on his neck three times and there was one stabbing mark in his head," deputy police chief of the district Gopinath Kanjilal told AFP. "He died after he was brought to a hospital." Kanjilal said Das, also known as Babaji, was "a priest" in the temple. But local police station chief inspector Hasan Hafizur Rahman told AFP the 50-year-old man was "a temple volunteer who helps conduct prayers". "He was an itinerant temple volunteer who travels from one temple to another to serve the Hindu devotees. He came to this temple only yesterday," he said. Police said no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but that it the bore the hallmarks of the recent murders of people from the country's religious minorities by suspected home-grown Islamist militants. "The pattern of the killing is similar" to ones carried out by local Islamist militants, Rahman said. Last month a Hindu priest, 70-year-old Ananda Gopal Ganguly, was also hacked to death in a rice paddy field in the same district near his home. Deputy police chief Kanjilal said a student activist from the country's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, has been arrested over the attack and he had allegedly admitted his role in the killing. Bangladesh is reeling from a wave of murders of secular and liberal activists and religious minorities that have some 50 people dead in the last three years. Victims of the attacks by suspected Islamists have included secular bloggers, gay rights activists and followers of minority religions. Although it is officially secular, around 90 per cent of Bangladesh's 160 million-strong population is Muslim and about one in ten are Hindu. (AFP)

Hindu temple worker hacked to death in Bangladesh

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