| Daily Times - Site Edition | Saturday, December 10, 2005 |
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Islamists threaten to kill Bangladeshi women not wearing hijab
* Banned militant group tends to make seclusion compulsory for women from the first day of Zilhaj
* Orders female students at Dhaka University not to step out after sunset
DHAKA: A banned Islamist militant group blamed for a series of bombings in Bangladesh has threatened to kill women, including non-Muslims, if they do not wear the veil, a statement said.
The statement by the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen came hours after Thursday’s suicide bomb attack in a northern town that killed at least eight people, the latest of a series of blasts blamed on militant groups in their campaign for an Islamic state. “Women will be killed if they are found to move around without wearing burqa (veil) from the first day of Zilhaj,” the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen said in the statement sent to a Dhaka newspaper office.
Zilhaj refers to the Arabic month beginning early January.
“Women, including non-Muslims, are hereby advised not to go out of home without burqa. Seclusion has been made compulsory for you,” said the statement in Bangla language, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on Friday. The group, which wants the introduction of Sharia laws in mainly Muslim Bangladesh, also ordered women students at Dhaka University not to step out after sunset, prompting police to increase security around the campus.
Earlier, a police officer said 30 suspected members of the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and another outlawed group, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh, were arrested for involvement in a wave of bomb attacks that have rattled the impoverished nation this year. reuters