India swings into action after Ramakrishna Mission priest in Dhaka gets death threat

After the Indian High Commission took up the issue with authorities in Dhaka, security around the RK Mission, where five Indian nationals are based, was tightened. Sources said security around Dhakeshwari temple, another place frequented by Hindus and visited by Modi last year, has also been tightened.

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Officials said the threat letter, received on Wednesday, stated that the priest will be killed if he continues to preach his religion. Since this follows a series of lethal attacks and targeted killings of minorities in Bangladesh, the issue was taken up seriously.

MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, “High Commission of India, Dhaka, has contacted both Bangladesh police and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has been assured of full support and protection. We are also in direct contact with the RK Mission in Dhaka.”

Swarup said the First Secretary (Consular) in the High Commission visited the RK Mission on Friday morning to review security.

According to Bangladesh media reports, a police official in Dhaka said the priest received the letter on a computer-composed Islamic State letterhead, with the perpetrator identifying himself as one A B Siddiqui.

“Bangladesh is an Islamic state. You can’t preach your religion here. If you continue preaching, you’ll be hacked to death with machetes between the 20th and 30th,” the officer quoted the letter as saying. The letter, he said, did not mention any month.

The latest incident comes in the wake of a series of killings of minorities and secular bloggers and activists. The Bangladesh government, which has detained nearly 12,000 people in a crackdown, said some attacks were linked to the Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh. But they have dismissed the presence of Islamic State in the country.

Sources in Dhaka said Indian High Commission officials have been visiting Hindu minority communities and meeting Hindu leaders in the wake of the attacks. This month, Indian diplomats visited the spot in Pabna, where a Hindu monastery worker was murdered, and Jhenidah, where a Hindu priest was killed. Both murders were reportedly claimed by IS.