Dhaka, Bangladesh - Islamic zealots have stopped construction of a mosque of the minority Ahmadiyya sect in Bangladesh capital in the presence of the law enforcers, according to witnesses and leaders of the minority sect.
The construction works was stopped only hours before a delegation of the Ahmadiyya community called on State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuizzaman Babar on Monday.
The junior minister, however, directed the police boss to take the matter seriously, a leader of the Ahmadiyya told Asian New International by phone on Tuesday.
He also added that an Islamist bigot belonging to the BNP-led four-party ruling alliance has still been threatening the members of the Ahmadiyya community asking not to build the mosque.
The Ahmadiyyas alleged that the religious bigots have been obstructing the construction work in the city's Uttara area since it began in February this year.
Witnesses said a group of people led by Nurul Islam attacked the Nabapara Ahmadiyya mosque and forcibly took away the construction materials. They dumped those materials to a nearby pond forcing the construction workers to stop the work.
The attackers also threatened the Ahmadiyya people of dire consequence if they further go for construction of the mosque.
Following the home minister's direction, the officer in charge of Uttara police station, Akhter-uz-Zaman, called a total of 12 people of the Ahmadiyya community and the Islamist zealots for a mediation meeting tomorrow to resolve the dispute.
Earlier, when the Ahmadiyyas began the construction work in February, some 40 bigots led by local Imam Mohammad Arafat forced them to stop the work. The sect members filed a general diary with Uttara Police Station but to no effect. Uttara police have yet to initiate investigation into the matter, alleged the Ahmadiyyas.
Islamic bigots have long been attacking on the people of the minority sect. They are capturing mosques of the Ahmadiyya at different places across the county. Khatme-Nabuwat Bangladesh, a platform of the Islamists, launched a year-long programme to oust the Ahmadiyya people from Bangladesh.
On the face of Islamist's movement, the government of Khaleda Zia in February 2004 imposed a ban on all publications of the Ahmadiyya community. A high court bench, however, stayed the government order.