Mufti Hannan produced in Khulna court

	Your Right To Know
Tuesday, February 8, 2011	National

Ahmadiyya Mosque Bombing

Mufti Hannan produced in Khulna court

Staff Correspondent, Khulna

Chief of banned Harkat-ul-Jihad (Huji) Mufti Abdul Hannan was produced in the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) yesterday amid tight security in the case for bomb attack on Khulna Ahmadiyya mosque in 1999.

Moulana Obaidul Huq Abdullah, younger brother of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Sheikh Abdur Rahman was also brought to the same court.

Seven people were killed and 34 others injured in a bomb attack on an Ahmadiyya mosque in Nirala residential area under Khulna Sadar police station on October 8 in 1999.

CID of police submitted final report of the sensational case after a long investigation in 2001. The case was revived through court by the present government and Hannan was shown arrested in the case.

Investigation officer Khandaker Miraj Billah of CID said that Mufti Hannan was earlier quizzed in the case at Dhaka office of CID where he gave some important information.

He further said that Obaidul Huq Abdullah has also been shown arrested in the case.

Both the accused would again be produced before the court on March 2 this year as per an order of the CMM court.

URL: www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=173285

Mufti Hannan on 5-day remand in Khulna

	Your Right To Know
Tuesday, December 28, 2010	National

Mufti Hannan on 5-day remand in Khulna

Ahmadiyya Mosque Attack

Staff Correspondent, Khulna

Banned Harkat-ul-Jihad (Huji) kingpin Mufti Abdul Hannan has been taken on a five-day remand for interrogation in connection with the case recorded with Khulna Sadar police station on October 9, 1999 for bomb attack on Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat mosque at Nirala in the city.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Md Barekuzzaman yesterday granted the remand after Mufti Hannan was taken there amid tight security in and around the court at around 11:30am.

Investigation officer (IO) of the case Inspector Khandaker Miraj Billah of Khulna zonal office of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had prayed for seven days’ remand for the leader of the banned Islamist outfit.

Hannan was brought to Khulna District Jail from Kashimpur Jail at 8:50pm on Sunday.

Seven people were killed and 41 others injured, six of them seriously, in bomb attack at the time of Jumma prayers on October 8 in 1999 at Nirala Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat mosque.

The case recorded with Khulna Sadar police station on the following day was later transferred to CID as police failed to reveal real motive behind the bomb attack and arrest anyone in this connection.

Inspector Rawshan Ali of CID who was made first investigation officer of this case submitted final report to the court on November 23 in 2001.

The case was, however, revived on January 18 this year as prayed through a petition to the CMM’s court by CID Inspector Khandaker Miraj Billah, the present IO.

“Mufti Abdul Hannan is still accused in 58 criminal cases recorded with different police stations of the country. The cases include the one recorded in connection with planting a 76kg bomb in an attempt to kill Sheikh Hasina who was then leader of the opposition in parliament,” said Khulna Jail Superintendent Md Alam Khan.

When taken to the dock yesterday, Mufti Hannan protested granting of the remand prayer, saying, “I am already facing death penalty in a case. So, there is no need to torture me anymore in the name of remand.”

URL: www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=167697

Fresh attack on Ahmadiyyas

	Your Right To Know
Wednesday, October 20, 2010	Front Page

Fresh attack on Ahmadiyyas

4 houses vandalised in Tangail

Our Correspondent, Tangail

Two Ahmadiyyas were seriously injured and four houses vandalised in a fresh attack on the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat community by religious bigots in Ghatail upazila of Tangail on Monday afternoon.

The injured, Shamsul Haque Akanda, 60, and his wife Hasna Banu, 50, of Chandtara village of the upazila were taken to Tangail General Hospital. Hasna was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) a few hours later as her conditions became more critical.

“About 12 to 15 extremists led by one Sattar stormed into our house at 5:00pm and attacked us with sharp weapons,” Shamsul Haque told The Daily Star as he lay on his hospital bed.

“They also ransacked three other adjacent houses of our community,” he added.

Mominur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Ghatail Police Station, said Hasan Ali, son of the injured couple, has filed a case in this regard accusing 15 people though none have been arrested so far.

“Additional police personnel have been deployed at the village,” he added.

Earlier, in June and August this year, 20 people were injured and 30 houses including a makeshift mosque were damaged in a series of attacks by the bigots centering construction of an Ahmadiyya mosque in Chandtara village.

Following the attack and looting incidents in August, Khalilur Rahman Akanda, a long-suffering Ahmadiyya of the village, filed a case accusing 56 locals of harassing members of his community.

“Since filing the case, the accused had been threatening the local Ahmadiyyas saying that they will attack us again once they got bail,” said Rubel Hossain Akanda, nephew of the injured couple.

“Of the accused, 55 surrendered in a Tangail court and got bail,” he added.

A section of locals under the banner of “Imam Parishad” have long been campaigning against 40 Ahmadiyya families in the village.

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founded the movement Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at on March 23, 1889, envisioning it to be a revitalisation of Islam. Ahmadiyyas consider themselves as Muslims and claim to practice Islam in its pristine form.

URL: www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=159189

Shezan factory attacked in Lahore

Pakistan Punjab

Shezan factory attacked in Lahore

By Rana Tanveer
June 14, 2010

LAHORE: Unidentified terrorists attacked Shezan factory on Saturday night with high-explosive blasts, leaving at least four people injured and causing damage to the building.

The assault on the Ahmadi-owned food factory took place at 10pm on Saturday. Glasses of various offices in the factory were broken and corrugated ceilings of sheds inside the factory were also blown. A big portion of the outer wall of the plant was also razed.

Investigators are pursuing the probe by keeping in view the May 28 twin blasts on Ahmadi places of worship – Darul Zikr at Garhi Shahu and Darul Noor at Model Town – in the city.

Police officials told The Express Tribune on Sunday that the factory management also suspected that they were being targeted because of their association with the Ahmadis.

Shera Kot police on complaint of Murad Ali, a manager of the factory, registered First Information Report (FIR) # 415/10 under sections 4/4 of Explosive Substance Act, section 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act against unidentified terrorists. According to the FIR, they targeted to destroy the factory.

Waseem Ahmed, an official in the marketing department of Shezan factory, told The Express Tribune that obviously the terrorists who planted the bomb by the factory wall were accomplices of the attackers of their places of worship.

He said that at the time of the blasts there were around 100 workers inside the factory.

He said the plant runs round-the-clock and seven days a week and after the Saturday blasts, attendance in the factory was much less than usual. He said although the local police were cooperating with them but so far no accused had been arrested.

Muhammad Qamar, a worker at the factory, said a sense of fear has gripped the plant workers after the blast. Although it was being suspected the factory was targeted for its Ahmadi connection, but more than 80 per cent of its workers are non-Ahmadis.

He added that the explosion spread panic through the factory as everyone rushed to safe places after the blasts’ deafening sounds rent the air.

Allah Yar, an official of Bomb Disposal Squad, told The Express Tribune that it was a timed device but not a ‘cracker’ as claimed by the police. The device contained high explosive material no less than one kilogramme.

He said although the device was home-made, it left a 9-inch crater on a carpeted road. “How could it then be a cracker?” he wondered aloud.

Iqbal Town Superintendent of Police Capt (retired) Sohail said they have started a crackdown against the suspects in the area. “Some arrests have been made and soon the culprits will be unearthed.”

Published in the Express Tribune, June 14th, 2010

URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/21161/shezan-factory-attacked-in-lahore/