Fresh protest in Bangladesh over Indian official's remarks

DHAKA • Around 10,000 Muslims demonstrated in the Bangladeshi capital yesterday in the second protest in a week over remarks about Prophet Muhammad by an Indian official that sparked anger across the Islamic world.

The authorities in India have, meanwhile, ordered heightened security in several regions for Friday prayers after two people were shot dead in protests there last week, local media reported.

Last Friday, Muslims took to the streets in huge numbers across Asia following the comments by a spokesman for India's ruling party on May 26.

The governments of nearly 20 countries summoned Indian envoys for an explanation of Ms Nupur Sharma's remarks about the Prophet and his youngest wife.

Shouting slogans like "Muslims of the world unite", the Bangladeshi protesters yesterday rallied in front of Dhaka's biggest mosque and tried to march to the Indian embassy before being blocked by police.

"There were around 10,000 marchers. They were peaceful," senior police official Enamul Haq told Agence France-Presse.

The protest was organised by Islami Andolan Bangladesh, one of the largest Islamist political parties in Bangladesh. The country is home to the world's fourth-largest Muslim population.

Around 150,000 people protested last Friday in major Bangladeshi cities, including 20,000 in the capital Dhaka and thousands more elsewhere.

Speakers at the Dhaka rally called for a boycott of Indian products, and demanded Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally lodge a protest with India.

Madam Hasina, who has been in power for 13 years, is a close ally of India and has stopped short of condemning Ms Sharma's remarks.

Derogatory comments about Islam and the Prophet on social media often trigger violent protests in Bangladesh. They often also spark riots targeting minorities.

Last year, at least six people were killed when widespread anti-Hindu riots swept the south-east of Bangladesh after an alleged desecration of a Quran, Islam's holy book, in a Hindu temple.

Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been accused of championing discriminatory policies towards India's Muslim minority. Ms Sharma's comments sent the BJP into damage control, with the party suspending her from its ranks and insisting it respected all religions.

Amid largely peaceful protests in several Indian cities last Friday, police opened fire in eastern Ranchi, killing two people after demonstrators threw stones and bottles.

The authorities in several Indian regions, including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Muslim-majority Kashmir, have told security personnel to tighten security around mosques today, local media reported. The Hindustan Times newspaper said a few districts in these states had banned congregations of more than four people.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE