Published on 12:00 AM, February 11, 2013

Islamic extremists proselytising children of other faiths by inducements?

At last, The Daily Star has told us what some of us already know from human rights' sources - that poor, non-Muslim children in Bangladesh are being trafficked to madrasas, far from their homes, their parents having been promised that their children will receive a good education, free of charge- sometimes (as in your report of Feb 5th of the arrest of Binoy Tripura) a 'Christian' education. Instead, the children are subjected to force conversions and ill-treatment, without, of course, their parents being informed of their welfare or whereabouts. One such child, a Christian, managed to escape and get a neighbour to send a message to his father who came and rescued him.
There have been times in history when religious extremists - of many religions actually - have tried to purge their countries of those of another faith who, they claim, are 'contaminating' them. It is sad that this too is one of the practices of Muslim extremists here, who, as this newspaper constantly informs us, spread a different version of Islam than most Muslims, whom they then define as 'bad Muslims' - so they can target them also with violence.
They assume that because they are obeying the laws of God and not man (i.e. the laws of the country), they do not need to restrain their behaviour or respect the police who try to enforce such laws. From where do they get the idea that, if they abuse and crush those who disagree with them that prove they are right about either religion or politics? Such behaviour also brings into disrepute the very God they claim to obey and merits the comment by one head of state that good Muslims should deal with these guys as it was not his job….!
Let us treasure the words of Mughal Emperor Babar in his will to Humayun:
Do not demolish or damage places of worship of any faith and dispense full justice to all to ensure peace in the country. Look at the various natures of your people just as colours of various seasons.
Is that not the real Bangladesh?