Tension mounts as Ahmadiyyas replace bigots' signboard

Tension mounted in Khulna city yesterday as Ahmadiyyas pulled down signboard from Nirala Ahmadiyya Mosque Complex triggering fierce demonstrations by the Islamic bigots.

International Khatme Nabuwat Movement Bangladesh (IKNMB), an anti- Ahmadiyya outfit, on August 13 posted the signboard to caution the Muslims not to be 'fooled' into taking the Ahmadiyya Mosque complex as a mosque and offering prayers there. It read 'Niralastha Kadiany Upashanalaya'.

IKNMB had long been campaigning for the government move declaring the Ahmadiyyas non-Muslims.

Police said members of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat replaced the signboard at around midnight on Monday with their own signboard.

As the news spread, hundreds of IKNMB activists gathered in front of the Ahmadiyya mosque complex in Nirala after Fazr prayer yesterday. They chanted slogans against the sect and in presence of police tore down the Ahmadiyaas' signboard and hung their signboard again.

Policemen, in riot gear, remained posted around the Nirala Ahmadiyya mosque complex, to ward off attack on the Ahmadiyaas while the bigots were still laying siege there till filing this report last evening.