Bangladesh: Muslims threaten Catholic women of Deotola village

(August 28, 2009) Catholic women of a village in Bangladesh can no longer go to Mass because of continual threats from local Muslims. For the past several weeks tensions have been mounting around the parish of St. Francis Xavier in Golla, in Dhaka division’s Nawabgonj district. Michael Gomes, a local Catholic leader, told AsiaNews that defenceless women and children of Deotala village are being intimidated. Most of the men of the village have emigrated to Europe or moved to Dhaka to find work. The threats originate from disputes over the village market where many stalls are run by some of the more than 3 thousand 700 Christians living in the area. Muslim traders want to take possession of them and have already on several occasions tried to use force to expel the non Muslim owners. Gomes said the situation is further complicated by the private interest of local politicians who say the market can not be the exclusive property of Christians.