University branch of the Chhatra League used sticks to attack
a reporter from the Daily Star, over reports critical of the
organisation's campus activities. Similarly, On September 25,
2010 an unknown assailant targeted the Rangpur
correspondent of the Daily Jugantor and stabbed him in the
back. The correspondent had published an article on
manipulation of tenders by AL activists in the area. In both
cases, the assailants remained at large.103
Freedom of Religion:104
Traditionally, Bangladesh is a moderate Muslim country,
wherein every citizen has the constitutional right to profess,
practise or propagate any religion, and every religious
community or denomination has the right to establish,
maintain and manage its religious institutions. However,
although governments publicly support freedom of religion,
in recent years, attacks on religious and ethnic minorities
continue to be a problem since religious minorities are often
at the bottom of the social hierarchy and, therefore, have the
least political recourse. Ahmadia Jamaat – a religious group –
has been threatened by Islamic extremists, and successive
governments were under pressure from those Islamic
groups to declare the followers of Ahmadia Jamaat nonMuslims. There are reported attacks on institutions of the
Ahmadia Muslim Community and there have been isolated
105
106
84
Ibid.
Ibid.