Muslim students and teachers clash with Islamic militants in Bangladesh

AP ^

[witnesstothefall]

DHAKA, Bangladesh, Sep 10, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Students and teachers from a Muslim school fought with members of an Islamic militant group who were distributing leaflets in their village, urging people to join an armed "jihad," or holy war, to make secular Bangladesh an Islamic state, police said Wednesday.

Police used batons to stop the fighting and arrested 13 members of the Hizbul Tauhid militant group. About 45 people were wounded. Ten of them, including two police officers, were hospitalized, a police officer said on condition of anonymity.

The villagers were opposed to the Muslim activists because they believed that using violence to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh contradicted Islamic teachings, the official said.

The incident occurred Tuesday in Poradah village in Kushtia district, 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital.

Little is known about Hizbul Tauhid. Police confiscated handbills from the activists and were questioning them to try to learn more about their activities.

Even though most of Bangladesh's 140 million people are Muslims, Islamic militants have little public support here. The country is a parliamentary democracy governed by secular laws.

[witnesstothefall]

Instructive. Dollars to donuts this school goes up in smoke within a month.

[Persia]

Oh but i thought all Muslims are the same.

[pdjplano]

but Islam is ALL evil i've been told in another thread. Surely there isn't any MODERATE MUSLIMS!!

Must be propaganda...

[witnesstothefall]

No they're not all the same, despite the efforts of jihadists to make all Muslims the same kind of fanatics as they are.

But that's not what upset you about the article, is it?

[Valin]

Oh you are absolutly right! All 1 billion of them think and act alike. There only thought is to kill kill kill!
/sarcasm

[thoughtomator]

This is exactly what the Muslim world needs to happen in order to survive the next 20 years.

[Stultis]

The villagers were opposed to the Muslim activists because they believed that using violence to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh contradicted Islamic teachings, the official said.

Bangladeshis were soured on the whole "Islamic State" business way back in the '70s when Pakistan invaded them, raping, beating and murdering hundreds of thousands.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

but Islam is ALL evil i've been told in another thread. Surely there isn't any MODERATE MUSLIMS!!

Must be propaganda...

Before becoming Bangladesh, this place was known as East Pakistan, which together with West Pakistan made one nation. Ethnic differences caused the East Pakistanis (Bengals) to revolt. In the ensuing war, 10,000,000 Hindus fled East Pakistan for their lives to India. Ironically, India stepped into the war and beat the crap out of the West Pakistanis to help the Bengals. In response to your sarcastic assessment of those having a dim view of Muslims, I suggest you ask the 10,000,000 displaced Hindus what they think.

[CountryLawyer]

Bangladesh is a country with big problems, including grinding poverty. And it erred in not (unlike India) adopting English as a national language. But it is trying remarkably hard to succeed. Its higher education system is small but good. Its people tend to be very family oriented and very friendly--not a good environment for the development of radical Islamists.

It is telling that Colin Powell visited Bangladesh (and few other Central Asian countries) on his most recent trip to that region.

When it comes to the war on terrorism, Bangladesh is likely to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Regards

[truth_seeker]

"Oh but i thought all Muslims are the same."

Point well made, by you and by the article. Let's hope for the sake of freedom loving muslims around the world, that they are willing to stand strongly enough, to defeat their co-religionists that desire bloody theocracy and terror.

The face of Islam which the free world sees most often, is terror against innocent civilians.

[10mm]

This is exactly what the Muslim world needs to happen in order to survive the next 20 years.

What an ironic Catch-22 this is. If pacifist Muslims (try not to laugh) are going to redeem their religion, they're going to have to kill all their radicals.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Angelus Errare]

Part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.