US DEPT. OF STATE REPORT ON BANGLADESH
International Religious Freedom Report 2004
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
The Constitution establishes Islam as the state religion but provides for the
right to practice--subject to law, public order, and morality--the
religion of one's choice. While the Government generally respects this provision
in practice, religion exerts a powerful influence on politics,
and the Government is sensitive to the Muslim consciousness of its political
allies and the majority of its citizens. Citizens generally are free to practice
the religion of their choice; however, police are normally ineffective in
upholding law and order and are often slow to assist members of religious
minorities who have been victims of crimes. Although the Government states that
acts of violence against members of religious minority groups are politically or
economically motivated and cannot be solely attributed to religion, human rights
activists reported an increase in religiously-motivated violence. The generally
amicable relationships among religions in society contributed to religious
freedom; however, the number of Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist minorities who
experienced discrimination by the Muslim majority increased. During the period
covered by this report, the Government was led by the centrist Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP), which heads a four-party coalition that includes two
Islamic parties, Jamaat Islami and the Islami Okiyya Jote. The majority of
Hindus traditionally vote for the opposition Awami League (AL). In the 300-seat
Parliament, religious minorities hold 7 seats--4 for the AL and 3 for BNP. Six
non-Muslims hold deputy or state minister or equivalent positions in the
Government. In 2002 the newly elected BNP Government arrested and intimidated AL
leaders and repealed key legislation passed by the previous AL administration.
The acute animosity between the two mainstream political parties often leads to
politically motivated violence and sometimes heightened societal tensions
between Muslims and Hindus. The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom
issues with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human
rights.
Section I. Religious Demography
The country has a total area of approximately 53,000 square miles, and it
has a population of nearly 140 million. Sunni Muslims constitute 88 percent of
the population. Approximately 10 percent of the population is Hindu. The
remainder of the population is mainly Christian (mostly Catholic) and Buddhist.
Members of these faiths are found predominantly in the tribal
(non-Bengali) populations of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, although many other
indigenous groups in various parts of the country are Christian. There also are
small populations of Shi'a Muslims, Sikhs, Baha'is, animists, and Ahmadis.
Estimates of their populations vary from a few hundred to 100,000 adherents for
each faith. Religion is an important part of community identity for citizens,
including those who do not participate actively in religious prayers or
services.
A national survey in late 2003 confirmed that religion is the first choice by a
citizen for self-identification; atheism is extremely rare. There is no reliable
estimate of the number of missionaries, but several Christian denominations
operate schools, orphanages, or other social
programs throughout the country. Several dozen missionaries, primarily based in
Dhaka and Chittagong, are engaged in social-development projects. Ethnic and
religious minority communities often overlap and are concentrated in the
Chittagong Hill Tracts and northern regions of the country.
Section II. Status of Religious Freedom
Legal/Policy Framework
The Constitution establishes Islam as the state religion but provides for the
right to practice--subject to law, public order, and morality--the
religion of one's choice. The Government generally respects this provision in
practice; however, some members of the Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, and Ahmadiya
communities experience discrimination. Religious organizations are not required
to register with the Government;
however, all nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including religious
organizations, are required to register with the Government's NGO Affairs Bureau
if they receive foreign financial assistance for social development projects.
The Government has the legal authority to cancel the registration of an NGO
determined or suspected to be in breach of its legal or fiduciary obligations
and to take other actions, such as blocking foreign funds transfers, to hinder
its operation. During the period covered by this report, the Government took
action in a nontransparent manner against six NGO's perceived as anti-Government
or pro-opposition. In September 2003, one such NGO was closed temporarily after
a government official claimed it had too many Hindus on its board of directors;
however, it subsequently reopened. Another prominent NGO had its outside grants
blocked after its director in 2001 wrote to the head of Government
and the diplomatic community to express concern over attacks on minorities
during the election then underway. Ultimately, the grants given in 2001 expired
early this year and have not been renewed. Members of targeted NGOs reported
harassment and intimidation, including pressure against traveling abroad to
participate in religious freedom events, by law enforcement and intelligence
officials. Family laws concerning marriage, divorce, and adoption differ
slightly depending on the religion of the person involved. There are no legal
restrictions on marriage between members of different faiths. Religion exerts a
powerful influence on politics, and the Government is
sensitive to the Muslim consciousness of its political allies, Jamaat Islami and
the Islami Oikya Jote, as well as the majority of its
citizens.
The Government provides some monetary support for the development of Muslim
mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples, and Christian churches. Major religious
festivals and holy days of the Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian faiths are
celebrated as national holidays. The Bangladesh Christian Association has
lobbied unsuccessfully for the inclusion of Easter as a national holiday.
Religion is taught in government schools, and parents have the right to have
their children taught in their own religion; however, some claim that many
government-employed religious teachers of minority religions are neither members
of the religion they teach nor qualified to teach it.
Although transportation may not always be available for children to attend
religion classes away from school, in practice schools with few religious
minority students often work out arrangements with local churches or temples,
which then direct religious studies outside of school hours.
The Government has taken some steps to promote interfaith understanding. For
example, Government leaders issued statements on the eve
of religious holidays calling for peace and warning that action would be taken
against those attempting to disrupt the celebrations. Through
additional security deployments and public statements, the Government promoted
the peaceful celebration of Durga Purja, a major Hindu holiday in October2003,
as well as supporting peaceful activities during Ramadan and before Eid-Ul-Azha.
Restrictions on Religious Freedom In 2001 the High Court ruled illegal all
fatwa's, or expert opinions on Islamic law. Fatwa's include decisions as to when
holidays begin based upon the sightings of the moon, matters of marriage and
divorce, the meting out of punishments for perceived moral transgressions, and
other religious issues. Islamic tradition dictates that only those Muftis
(religious scholars) who have expertise in Islamic law are authorized to declare
a fatwa. However, in practice village religious leaders sometimes make
declarations in individual cases and call the declaration a fatwa. Sometimes
this results in extrajudicial punishments, often against women for their
perceived moral transgressions. In deeming all fatwa's illegal, the High Court
intended to end the extrajudicial enforcement of fatwa's or other declarations
by religious leaders. The pronouncement resulted in violent public protests (see
Section III). Several weeks later, the Appellate Court stayed the High Court's
ruling, and subsequently no action has been taken. Given the heavy Appellate
Court case load, it is unclear when the appeal will be determined.
Foreign missionaries were allowed to work in the country; however, their right
to proselytize is not protected by the Constitution. The
Constitution provides for the right to profess, practice, or propagate any
religion; however, the right to proselytize is not discussed in the
Constitution. Proselytization is neither permitted nor prohibited by law. As is
the case for other foreign residents, missionaries often face
delays of several months in obtaining or renewing visas. In the past, some
missionaries who were perceived to be converting Muslims to other faiths
subsequently were unable to renew their visas, which must be renewed annually.
In mid-2001 the Department of Immigration and Passports began to issue regularly
a new visa category for foreign missionaries working in the country. The
processing of the new visas apparently created complications initially; however,
there were no recent reports of any current problems with receiving these visas.
Some foreign missionaries reported that internal security forces and others
closely monitored their activities.
There are no financial penalties imposed on the basis of religious beliefs;
however, religious minorities are disadvantaged in practice in
such areas as access to jobs in government or the military, and in political
office. The Government has appointed some Hindus to senior civil service
positions. Non-Muslims are not barred legally from any government position.
However, religious minorities remain underrepresented in most government jobs,
especially at the higher levels of the civil and foreign services. Selection
boards in the government services often lacked minority group representation.
The government-owned Bangladesh Bank employs approximately 10 percent
non-Muslims in its upper ranks. Hindus dominate the teaching profession,
particularly at the high school and university levels. Some Hindus report that
Muslims tend to favor Hindus in some professions, such as doctors, lawyers, and
accountants. They attribute this circumstance to the education that the British
offered during the 19th century, which Muslims boycotted but Hindus embraced.
Employees are not required to disclose their religion, but religion generally
can be determined by a person's name. Many Hindus have been unable to recover
landholdings lost because of discrimination in the application of the law,
especially under the now-defunct Vested Property Act. The act was a Pakistan-era
law that allowed "enemy" (in practice Hindu) lands to be expropriated by the
Government. Approximately 2.5 million acres of land were seized from Hindus, and
almost all of the 10 million Hindus in the country were affected. Property
ownership, particularly among Hindus, has been a contentious issue since
partition in 1947. However, in April 2001, Parliament passed the Vested Property
Return Act. This law stipulated that land remaining under government control
that was seized under the Vested
Property Act be returned to its original owners, provided that the original
owners or their heirs remain resident citizens. Hindus who fled
to India and resettled there are not eligible to have their land returned, and
the act does not provide for compensation for or return of properties that the
Government has sold. By law the Government was required to prepare a list of
vested property holdings by October 2001, and claims were to have been filed
within 90 days of the publication date. No further claims were to be accepted
after that period expired. At the end of the period covered by this report, the
Government had not published the list of vested properties; the reasons for the
extended delay could not be determined.
In 2002, the Parliament passed an amendment to the Vested Property Return Act,
allowing the Government unlimited time to return the vested properties. The
properties are to remain under the control of deputy commissioners until a
tribunal settles ownership. The amendment also gives the deputy commissioners
the right to lease such properties until they are returned to their owners. The
Government claimed that this provision would prevent the properties from being
stolen.
In 2001 the Forestry Department inaugurated an eco-park on the lands inhabited by the predominantly Christian Khasia tribe sin Moulvibazar. Although indigenous Khasis had lived on these lands for generations, the Government did not recognize their ownership. The Government claimed ownership and stated that the Khasis were occupying the land illegally. On January 3, a member of the Garo tribe died and several others sustained injuries when police and forestry officials fired on Garos attempting to obstruct the construction of a wall in Madhupur forest in the northern Tangail district as part of a forest conservation and eco-park project. Rather than go to the police, the victim's family filed a petition with the magistrate accusing nine government officials of the crime. The magistrate court initiated a judicial inquiry, but by the end of the period covered by this report, there was no action. In July 2002, Forest Department guards killed a Khasi member, Abinash, and injured 10 others in an attempt to evict the Khasis. Police had not arrested anyone in connection with the killing by the end of the period covered by this report.
Under the Muslim Family Ordinance, female heirs inherit less than male
relatives, and wives have fewer divorce rights than husbands. Men are permitted
to have up to four wives, although society strongly discourages polygamy, and it
is practiced rarely. Laws provide some protection for women against arbitrary
divorce and the taking of additional wives by husbands without the first wife's
consent, but the protections generally apply only to registered marriages.
Marriage is governed by family law of the respective religions. In rural
areas, marriages sometimes are not registered because of ignorance of the law.
Under the law, a Muslim husband is required to pay his former wife alimony for 3
months, but this law is not always enforced.
In December 2003, anti-Ahmadi activists killed a prominent Ahmadi leader in
Jessore and announced a January 23 deadline for the Government to declare
Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. On January 8, the Government announced a ban on all
Ahmadiya publications. The ban has not been formalized, but police detained a
boy for 3 days for possession of Ahmadiya books, and during demonstrations in
April and May, police entered and seized documents from two Ahmadiya mosques.
The Government has opposed court challenges to the ban on the grounds the ban
has not been promulgated officially and is, therefore, beyond judicial scrutiny.
With a few exceptions, the police are not enforcing the ban.
Abuses of Religious Freedom
Reports of harassment by BNP supporters of Hindus, who traditionally vote for
the AL, preceded and followed the 2001 election. Reported incidents included
killings, rape, looting, and torture. The BNP acknowledged reports of atrocities
committed between Muslims and Hindus; however, the BNP claimed that they were
exaggerated. The Home Minister was unable to confirm reports that Hindus had
fled the country and insisted that there was no link between religion and the
violence. He also dismissed allegations that the BNP was linked to the
perpetrators. In 2001, the High Court ordered the Government to investigate and
report on attacks on religious minorities and to demonstrate that it was taking
adequate steps to protect minorities. The Government submitted its report to the
High Court in 2002. The report claimed that some of the incidents of
post-election violence were not connected to communal relations. It also alleged
that some of the reports of violence were fabricated or exaggerated. Since the
submission of the report, neither the High Court nor the Government has taken
further action.
Since the 2001 elections, religious minorities reportedly have continued to be targeted for attacks. An NGO claimed that in the first 4 months of the period covered by this report, there were approximately 200 incidences of discrimination or violence against religious minorities. Reportedly, incidents include killings, rape, torture, attacks on places of worship, destruction of homes, forced evictions, and desecration of items of worship. However, many such reports have not been verified independently. The Government sometimes has failed to investigate the crimes and prosecute the perpetrators, who are often local gang leaders. On February 27, Humayun Azad, a Dhaka University professor and writer, sustained serious injuries when unidentified assailants stabbed him near campus. Azad, known for his criticism of Islamic fundamentalism, publicly blamed the attack on Muslim extremists. The Government provided Azad with medical treatment in Dhaka and later, at its expense, in Thailand, but at the end of the period covered by this report, the police investigation into the attack had not identified the assailants.
In January a Hindu temple and three houses belonging to Hindus in Chittagong
were burned. According to a prominent human rights NGO, the temple was on
disputed ground, and the temple priest sought to expand temple lands.
Subsequently, there was conflict between the police, the local fire brigade, and
Hindu devotees, who accused the police of destroying the temple. They attacked
the police and fire brigade personnel with stones and incendiary devices. There
has been no subsequent legal action.
In November 2003, 11 members of a Hindu family burned to death after assailants
set fire to their home near the port city of Chittagong. BDG officials ascribed
the crime to robbers following a failed robbery attempt, but the opposition
Awami League alleged that BNP members attacked the family as part of a local
Hindu cleansing effort. Local human rights NGO Odhikar claimed that the attack
was a planned assault on the family because of its Hindu faith. Government
ministers visited the home within a few days of the incident and promised action
against the perpetrators. Subsequently, within a month of the attack, police
arrested 5 persons, 3 of whom confessed to the magistrate and claimed that 14
people were involved in what they said was an attempted robbery. At the
conclusion of the period covered by this report, police had completed their
investigation and prepared a criminal complaint for submission to the court.
Using a compilation of newspaper reports, Ain-O-Shalish Kendra (The Law and
Mediation Center), a human rights NGO, filed in 2001 a writ petition with the
High Court asking that the Government be ordered to investigate the reported
incidents of post-election violence against minorities and submit its findings
to the court. The Government submitted its report to the court in 2002, stating
that it had taken action against perpetrators of violence against members of the
minority communities wherever such incidents took place. The government report
said investigations revealed that many of the reports were false or exaggerated.
During the period covered by the report, the High Court took no further action
in response to the Government's report.
In 2002, a Buddhist monk, Ganojyoti Mohasthobir, was killed at a Buddhist temple
and orphanage at Rauzan in Chittagong. According to media reports, his killing
was related to a land dispute. Then Home Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and
Foreign Minister Morshed Khan visited the temple after the killing. They assured
the public that the incident would be investigated properly and that those
involved would be brought to trial.Police subsequently apprehended three of the
seven accused in the killing. Their trial opened in district court on May 16,
with the judge saying that he would depose witnesses intensively until May 23;at
the end of the period covered by this report, the case was continuing. One human
rights activist claimed that, especially after the 2001 elections, religious
minority groups have been targeted for acts of violence, which has led to the
requirement for guards to be present at church and temple ceremonies. These
claims continued during the period covered by this report; however, there also
has been violence during important Muslim holidays.
In June 2001, in Baniarchar, Gopalganj District, a bomb exploded inside a
Catholic church during Sunday Mass, killing 10 persons and injuring 20 others.
The army arrived to investigate approximately 10 hours after the blast. Police
detained various persons for questioning, but by the end of the period covered
by this report, the police reported no progress on the case. A judicial
commission was formed in December 2001 to investigate the Baniachar bombing. In
September 2002, the commission submitted its report to the Government. The
commission's final report blamed Sheikh Hasina and other AL party members for
six of the seven bomb attacks that occurred in
1999, 2000, and 2001, including the June 2001 attack. However, two of the three
commission members dissented, alleging that the head of the commission, Judge
Abdul Bari Sarkar, had inserted his personal views in the final report. During
the period covered by this report, the Government took no further action on the
basis of the 2002 commission report, and the police are not pursuing the case
actively.
Feminist author Taslima Nasreen remained abroad during the period covered by
this report, while criminal charges were pending against her for insulting the
religious beliefs of the country's Muslims. In May 2002, the Government banned
her subsequent book, a sequel to an earlier novel that also was banned for being
"anti-Islamic." In October 2002, a court sentenced Nasreen, in absentia, to a
year in jail for her "derogatory remarks about Islam," in a case filed by a
local Jamaat-e-Islami leader in 1999. In November 2003, a Dhaka court banned the
sale or distribution of Nasreen's latest book, "Ka," an account of Nasreen's
relationships with Bangladeshi intellectuals, in response to a defamation suit
filed by a Bangladeshi writer; "Ka" was sold openly on street corners after the
ban. There were no reports of religious prisoners or detainees. Forced Religious
Conversion There were no reports of forced religious conversion, including of
minor
U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the United States,
or of the refusal to allow such citizens to be returned to the United States.
Abuses by Terrorist Organizations
There were no reported abuses targeted at specific religions by terrorist
organizations during the period covered by this report. Improvement and Positive
Developments in Respect for Religious Freedom Following demands by the IOJ, an
Islamist coalition partner of the ruling BNP, that Ahmadiyya publications be
banned and that Ahmadis be declared non-Muslims, the BDG announced such a ban on
January 8. However, several days after senior-level visits by the U.S. Embassy
and a Congressional delegation on January 11 to 14, the Prime Minister announced
the Government would not declare Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. After the U.S.
Embassy and several human rights organizations expressed concerns, the
Government in March deferred proposed legislation by a BNP parliamentarian that
would have created a blasphemy law based on the Pakistani model.
Section III. Societal Attitudes
Relations between the religious communities generally are amicable. Persons who
practice different religions often join each other's festivals
and celebrations, such as weddings. Shi'a Muslims practice their faith without
interference from Sunnis. Nevertheless, clashes between religious groups
occasionally occur. Violence directed against religious minority communities
continues to result in the loss of lives and property, but the
motives--religious animosity, criminal, or property rights--are often unclear.
Religious minorities are vulnerable and often have even less access to justice
than other citizens. Police, who generally are ineffective in upholding law and
order, are normally slow to assist members of the religious minority community,
thereby perpetuating an atmosphere of impunity for acts of violence (see Section
II).
Intercommunal violence caused many Hindus to emigrate to India between 1947 and
1971 and continued on a smaller scale throughout the 1980s. Since the 1991
return to democracy, emigration of Hindus has decreased significantly, which
generally can be attributed to the significant reduction in the Hindu population
over the last 30 years. In recent years, emigration has been primarily motivated
by economic and family reasons.
Nevertheless, incidents of communal violence continue to occur. Newspapers reported attacks on Hindu homes and rapes of Hindu women at several places in the country soon after the October 2001 election. According to a human rights organization, at least 10 Hindu women were raped and a number of Hindu homes were looted by low-level BNP workers a few days before the BNP took power from the nonpartisan caretaker government that supervised the election. Some incidents of rape and looting also took place in the southwestern district of Bagerhat. The situation improved after the new government members visited the areas and deployed additional police to troubled locations. In February 2002, an AL-backed Convention on Crimes Against Humanity alleged "systematic persecution" of religious minorities and called for the perpetrators to be brought to trial under local and international laws. In two cases, courts convicted the perpetrators. On September 10, 2003, a Speedy Trial Court in Barisal sentenced Ibrahim Khali and Dulal to life in prison (in practice 22½ years) for raping a Hindu woman at Annoda Proshad in Lord Hardinge Union of lal Monhon subdistrict of Bhola district. The court also fined each convict approximately $165 (Taka 10,000) or alternatively to spend an additional 6 months in prison. Both convicts are serving their terms.
On October 23, 2003, a Speedy Trial Court sentenced six persons to life in
prison and acquitted a seventh person accused of raping a Hindu woman after the
2001 parliament election in the Sadar sub-district of Bhola. The convicts have
appealed the verdict to the High Court; the appeal was pending at the end of the
period covered by this report. Human rights groups and press reports indicated
that vigilantism against women accused of moral transgressions occurred in rural
areas, often under a fatwa, and included punishments such as whipping. During
2003 36 fatwa cases occurred in which 5 persons were lashed, and others faced
punishments ranging from physical assault to shunning of families by their
communities. One human rights organization recorded 32 fatwa cases in 2002 in
which 19 persons were lashed, and others faced punishments ranging from physical
assault to shunning of families by their communities.
There are approximately 100,000 Ahmadis concentrated in Dhaka and several other locales. In the latter part of 2003, they were the targets of attacks and harassment prompted by clerics and the rhetoric of leaders of the Islami Okkiya Jote, an Islamic party and coalition partner of the ruling BNP. Many mainstream Muslims view Ahmadis as heretics. In October 2003, 17 Ahmadiya families in Kushtia were barricaded in their homes for several days. In November 2003, police stopped a mob of about 5,000 attempting to destroy an Ahmadiya mosque in Tejgaon, Dhaka.
In December 2003, anti-Ahmadi activists killed a prominent
Ahmadi leader in Jessore; however, there were no results from the subsequent
police investigations in any of these cases. On January 8, the Government
announced a ban on all Ahmadiya publications; the ban has not been promulgated
officially, but in April and May, police entered and seized documents from
Ahmadiya mosques
(See Section II). Reportedly, at the end of May, the Khatme Nabuwat Andolan, a
group of anti-Ahmadiya Islamic clerics, threatened to evict thousands of
Ahmadiyas from their homes in Patuakhali, Rangpur, and Chittagong. The same
group also threatened to attack Ahmadiya mosques in those districts. Many
Ahmadiyas appealed to the administration for protection and security. In April
allegedly 12 Ahmadiya houses were destroyed; 15 Ahmadiya men and women in
Rangpur reportedly were held against their will and pressed to
renounce their faith. They were released after hoursof verbal harassment; no
legal action has been taken against their assailants.
Public reaction to the High Court's 2001 ruling that fatwas were illegal
resulted in violence. Following the court's decision, a number of NGOs organized
a rally in Dhaka and transported busloads of persons, mostly women, from
different parts of the country to express support for the ruling, which they
said was a victory for women and for all who suffered abuses in the name of
fatwa. However, Muslim groups contended that fatwas were an integral part of a
Muslim's daily life and called the ruling an attack on their religious freedom.
Islamist parties and the then-opposition BNP cited the ruling as an example of
the Awami League government's "anti-Islam" attitude. Islamic groups organized
blockades to prevent buses from entering Dhaka for the rally and protested the
ruling and the NGO rally. In the ensuing violence, a police officer was killed
inside a mosque, and an NGO office was ransacked. Subsequently, a case was filed
and several persons were arrested for the murder. One of the accused was a
well-known Islamic scholar and the chairman of a faction within the IOJ; the high court dismissed all charges against him. The law neither permits
citizens to proselytize nor prohibits proselytization; however, local
authorities and communities often object to efforts to convert persons from
Islam to other religions. Moreover, strong social resistance to conversion from
Islam means that most missionary efforts by Christian groups are aimed at
serving communities
that have been Christian for several generations or longer.
There is no known indigenous Jewish community. Anti-Semitic attitudes are
widespread among Islamist activists and are sometimes evident in commentaries,
particularly on the Middle East, in mainstream newspapers. In general citizens
do not perceive Christians as Western society surrogates, and Christians are not
targeted or harassed in response to the widespread perception by citizens that
the U.S.-led war on global terrorism is "anti-Muslim. "
Section IV. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Government routinely discusses general and specific religious freedom
issues with officials at all levels of the Government as well as with political
party leaders and representatives of religious and minority communities. The
U.S. Embassy twice encouraged Jamaat Islami to reiterate publicly its position
that it supports tolerance and minority rights in the context of an attack on a
religious minority member. Both times Jammat Islami demurred. Democracy and
governance projects supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
include tolerance and minority rights components. The Embassy successfully
encouraged the leader
of a major political party to condemn attacks on Ahmadis. An article that the
Ambassador wrote for local newspapers on Human Rights Day on December 10, 2003,
stressed the importance of religious tolerance and other basic rights. Due to
the increased attacks on Ahmadis, the U.S. Government made religious freedom a
central point of discussion in most meetings with the Prime Minister, the
Foreign Minister, the Law Minister, the Home Minister, and several other
ministers beginning in December 2003. The Embassy expressed its views on this
matter to the media and public forums related to democracy and governance. In
February the Ambassador was the ranking
guest at a religious freedom conference organized by a national human rights
group. Embassy and visiting U.S. Government officials regularly visited members
of minority communities to hear their concerns and demonstrate public support.
Following demands for the ban of Ahmadiyya publications and that Ahmadis be
declared non-Muslims, the Government announced such a ban on January 8. However,
several days later, after senior-level representations by the Embassyand a
visiting Congressional delegation, the Prime Minister announced that the
Government would not declare Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. After the Embassy and
several human rights organizations expressed concerns, the Government in March
deferred proposed legislation by a BNP parliamentarian that would have created a
blasphemy law based on the Pakistani model.
The Embassy assisted U.S. Christian-affiliated relief organizations in guiding
paperwork for schools and other projects through government
channels. The Government has been receptive to discussion of such subjects and
generally helpful in resolving problems. The Embassy has also acted as an
advocate in the Home Ministry for these organizations in resolving problems with
visas. The Embassy encouraged the Government through the Ministry for Religious
Affairs to develop and expand its training program for Islamic religious
leaders. After an initial pilot program, USAID provides, among other topics,
course work for religious leaders on human rights, HIV/AIDS,
gender equality, and trafficking in persons.
Released on September 15, 2004