Dhaka, 8 Aug, 2023 (GNP): Thousands of people expressed anger and marched on the roads after many copies of the Holy Quran were burned in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, causing injuries to many police officers, on Monday, as per the official sources.
The police officer Ajbahar Ali Shaikh said that police had fired rubber bullets and tear gas to scatter the protesters composed of “at least 10,000 people” overnight from Sunday to Monday as the angry crowd tried to charge over the two men blamed for burning dozens of copies of the Holy Quran.
Also Read: Sanctity of the Holy Quran day observed in country
According to another police officer, in those riots around 14 policemen were wounded but did not have any such reports about injuries among the protestors.
However, the two men had been detained in the northeastern city of Sylhet, one of the extremely hide-bound areas of Bangladesh. Reportedly both the arrested men stated that they had burned the copies of the Holy Quran because those were “very old and some had printing mistakes.”
The police officer Shaikh had named the blamed men as school principal Nurur Rahman and Mahbub Alam and also said that the police force had “seized 45 copies of the burned Quran.”
Also Read: Quran desecration: UNHRC convenes a meeting on Pakistan’s request
Meanwhile, as per several Muslim intellectual and religious scholars, the disposing of the Holy Quran that is no longer fit for use is allowable but in a respectful manner.
Bangladesh has a population of 170 million people, of which 90% are Muslims. The remaining population is primarily made up of Hindus and Christians.
In the South Asian region clashes over religious sentiment and beliefs are very common and minorities frequently come under attack because of rumors of supposed blasphemy and offensive social media posts criticizing Islam.
