Yesterday around 6.30 pm in the evening, some activists of Jamaat-e-Islam threatened a Christian minority businessman at Barisal Gaurnadi to kill their family, and at one point those extremists sprayed flammable liquid and set fire on the house. The family members were inside the house at the time of the incident.
This incident took place on a Christian Catering Business owner Mr Dilip Bepery’s country house situated at Dakshin Bijoypur in Gournadi on Monday, 22nd April around 6.30 evening. He owns a restaurant, Yean Tun Thai and Chinese Restaurant, in Dhaka. Losses of life and property of the family was not immediately known.
Mr Bepery told ABC News Reports, “About 20-25 activists of Jamaat-e-Islami surrounded our house around 6.30 in the evening. They started to shouting on us with slangs. They threatened us to kill by saying that we are Kafir and Murtaads and we have no right to live. And said first of all burn the house and then they will slaughter us one by one in the name of Allah. All of a sudden they sprayed kerosene around the house and set fire. They were shouting and saying that they will get blessed by setting fire on a Kafir’s house and started chanting Nara-e Takbir Allahu Akhbar. They were also shouting and saying that, tell your daughter to stop their radio broadcast, stop spreading news about our Islamic leaders. They were also saying that they’ve issued a fatwa that they will kill my daughter Janet and my son in laws Pinaki, whenever and wherever they see them in the country. No neighbour came forward to help us because those criminals had various sticks, machetes and knives in their hands. All those attackers are active member of the fundamentalist political group Jamat-e-Islami. At that time, me, my wife and my younger son were in the house. But we luckily managed to escape from the backdoor and saved our lives. My whole house got burnt down and turned into ashes, we couldn’t save it.”
Following this incident, Mr Dilip has filed a case against those attackers at Gouranadi Police Station today.
Local residents are still in fear witnessing this incident in their neighbourhood. They condemned the attack on minority Christians by Islamic extremist political group.
Police refused to comment regarding the matter at the moment.
It is to note that, Mr Bepari’s daughter Janet Trina Bepery is currently residing in the United Kingdom for study purposes. Both Janet and her husband Pinaki Deb Apu started an online radio station beginning of this year on February, following Shahbagh Movement. They named their radio Station “Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro” after a temporary radio station during the 1971 liberation war. They started the radio broadcast simply to spread the word of the Shahbagh protest to all Bangladeshis living across the globe and demanded supreme punishment for the convicted war criminal Abdul Kader Mollah, Islamic leader of Jamaat-e Islami Bangladesh. They generally arrange various talk shows where they talk about war crimes and war criminals during the liberation war, also broadcasts live slogans and interviews from Shahbagh Chattar. They also plays inspirational and motivational songs which were originally played during the Liberation War in 1971. Janet also writes articles regularly on her personal blog about liberation war, war criminals, various social issues etc.
