The Rise of Extremism

Italian Man

On the 29th of September I was out for the evening with one of my good friends Shiblee, we had tried to look for a place to eat after having a few beers at one of the expatriate clubs known as the BAGHA, the evening was good fun but little did we know that only a few streets away was going to be the changing point for the rest of my experience in Bangladesh as well as the change that the country didn't want. On this warm evening an Italian man by the name of Cesare Tavella was shot three times fatally killing him on the streets of Dhaka, his murderers escaped on a motorbike to get away from the crime scene, it was said that there were three attackers, one on the motorbike and another two watching Cesare as he jogged back home.

I didn't hear the news until the next evening when Shiblee warned me that the British Government and other nations have put a warning of militants in Bangladesh wanting to kill Westerners’, a cold feeling came over me when I read the news, a country which I thought I was safe in for being a westerner had now changed, Bangladesh is a country that accepts all nationals to come and live their lives happily but now there was a group who wanted to inflict harm on the people, as well as destabalise the whole economy of the country.

On the 1st of October I was walking to work, I was being cautious of everyone I walked past, for the first time I didn't feel safe, I had experienced other troubles in Bangladesh before which include the violent hartals aimed at the government a few months before, but this time it was aimed at foreigners, people of other religions and atheists.

Japanese Man

On the 3rd of October I was sitting in my office, my colleagues were all speaking Bangla about a topic I couldn't understand but it did bring my attention to them as the whole office was discussing the topic, a few moments later my other colleague Noshad came over with a news article on his phone, I scrolled through the news and couldn't believe what I was reading, another foreigner had been killed, this time it was an older man who was a Japanese national, he goes by the name of Kunio Hoshi.

Kunio was on a rickshaw heading towards a farm in the Rangpure Division in the north, when just like the other attack three men on a motorbike shot him which fatally killed him, this happened around 10am which would of been when I first settled into my office to start my productive day. What did bring me some comfort about this horrible situation Bangladesh is in was that all the Bangladeshis that I knew wanted to make sure I was safe and they were worried that I could be attacked in a cold blooded murder at any moment.

Christian Pastor

A few days after the killing of the two foreigners there was a third attack which was not on a foreigner but on a Bangladeshi pastor who teaches about the Christian faith, he goes by the name of Luke Sarkar, a month before the first killing a man phoned Luke to see if they can discuss Christianity with him at his home, but of course these men were not there to discuss Christianity but to kill Luke.

At his home the men arrived and his wife went into the next room, all for a sudden one of the men puts his hand on Lukes mouth whilst the other two were pinning him down, a knife was drawn to slit Lukes throat, he managed to scream for help which brought the attention of his wife and others in the local area, with too many witnesses the men fleed from the scene, sometime later the police were tipped off and they had captured one of the men.

The Killings of the four Athiest Bloggers

Islamic extremism is on the rise in Bangladesh, a few months ago bloggers who were writing blogs about Islam/Atheism were victims of attacks, four bloggers were murdered in Bangladesh by being viciously hacked to death, this could have connections to the recent murders of the two foreign nationals and the attempted murder of Luke the Christian Pastor.

Isis Claims responsibility

One of the biggest threats to the world this past year has to be the Islamic State, the group are fighting in Iraq and Syria for land to govern whilst committing terrorist attacks throughout the world, especially aiming to kill Christians as well as nations that are doing airstrikes against them in the Middle East, these nations include America, United Kingdom, France and Russia.

I have been following the story on Isis closely as I was a foreign national living in an Islamic country, I have watched the news over time of them slaughtering thousands of men, women and children; the most recent attacks were mass shootings of British tourist on a beach in Tunisia, shooting a Canadian government building, shootings on the streets of France, holding civilians hostage in an Australian coffee shop and blowing a Russian passenger jet from the sky over the Sinai peninsula in Egypt.

It all seemed a world away whilst I was in Bangladesh, the country has a relaxed islamic atmosphere wereI felt one hundred percent safe to make my way through Dhaka at all hours, but as soon as Isis claimed responsibility for the killings of the foreign nationals that brought a whole new reality to me, thoughts were going through my head such as were Isis really in Bangladesh? Isis recruiters had been caught and arrested in Dhaka a few months before, in a mosque that was only down the road from where I lived; I really didn't feel safe in Dhaka anymore, and the idea that I could be killed at any time just by walking down the street gave me unsettling nerves, since Isis had claimed responsibility the once strong expat community of Bangladesh has nearly disappeared, the governments of the world warn their nationals and the Gulshan/Banani districts of Dhaka are on high alert with a vast amount of police checks.

My time in Dhaka had really changed these last few months and not for the better, I was working for an inbound tour company called 'The Bengal Tours Ltd' but due to the fact that a Japanese man had been killed (apparently by Isis) most of our bookings disappeared, which caused the company to nearly go bankrupt and myself being laid off over financial and security difficulties.

Stuck indoors

For the next few weeks after the murders expats are being told to stay indoors for safety, this is quite difficult for me as I love to go out and socialise with my Bangladeshi friends, but now I am stuck indoors, my mind is going crazy not being able to just walk outside, if I wanted to go anywhere which includes even just going for a tea with a friend I have to go in the car, just in case. When I do go to places such as the Bagha for dinner you do really notice the effect this event has had on the expat community, the expat clubs are closing early, they are nearly empty all day, the noise level has to be kept down not to draw attention to the building and large events for the expatriate community such as Halloween Party, Burns Night, St Andrew's Party, St David’s Party, St Peters Party and St George party had all been cancelled, its a shame really that it has happened to Bangladesh, the once lively parties and heaving club bars will now be just a memory to me as I sit there alone with just my father and a few bar staff.

Being stuck at home especially when Dhaka is at it's most dangerous which is in the evening, I have had time to apply for new roles in other countries, keep up to date with the news, catch up on the many enjoyable hours of television, but still my boredom is now becoming so overwhelming, I feel myself slowly becoming less motivated and depressed which is such a sad way to end my time in Bangladesh, but there is a British saying that I keep in my mind in time of trouble such as these and that is "Onwards and Upwards" which basically means no matter how hard life has become, keep fighting and you will succeed.

Attacks on the Shiite Muslim Community

For the first time on Bangladeshi soil the Shiite Muslim community were targeted by the Islamic extremists, just before dawn on the 24th October 2015 during the festival which the Shiite Muslims celebrate more than a thousand Shiite Muslims gathered, the attackers hurled homemade bombs that exploded in the large crowd and unfortunately killed a teenage boy while injuring more than a hundred people, this was big news in Dhaka the next day, the incident happened in Old Dhaka which is on the other side of the city to where I live; the reason why the Islamic extremists attacked the Shiite Muslims is because the two branches of Islam are Shiite & Sunni and there are some parts of their religion they disagree on, Bangladesh is a Sunni dominated country which has a much smaller Shitte community, the authorities immediately arrested two suspects and recovered two unexploded bombs.

Later on 25,000 people had started to gather for a march through Dhaka's older quarter from Huseni Dalan, an important 17th century Shiite centre of learning, to a mosque. Of the five bombs that were thrown that day three had only exploded which of course sent thousands of panicked people fleeing in all directions. The Islamic State had also claimed responsibility for this attack on Bangladesh.

Relatives cried out for their loved ones that have been injured in the attack on that warm autumn night, the shoes & sandals could be found all over the pavement along with some colourful flags and chains used by the youth to beat themselves during the procession of the show which is a Shiite tradition to show their grief for Ashoura which is a ten day religious ritual marking the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Peace Protest and more blogger deaths.

Even though the foreigners are targeted in the deadly attacks, the people who are more at risk are the religious writers and bloggers, anything said against Islam and they will find themselves on the hit list of these terrorists; on the 1st November 2015 Dhaka saw a peaceful protest against the government for failing to halt rising deadly violence blamed on the Islamists, in Dhaka the protesters rallied against the latest violent attacks on secular writers and publishers as well as other deaths and violence from these extremists; teachers, writers, students and other protesters converged on Dhaka University the day after a gang of suspected Islamists armed with machetes and cleavers hacked to death a publisher of secular books, two other secular bloggers and another publisher were also badly injured in what was a similar attack in Dhaka which left the poor souls in a pool of their own blood in their offices, but the Islamic state didn't claim responsibility for these attacks, it was the Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) claimed responsibility, AQIS branded the victims as "blasphemers" and warning that any writers who criticise Islam will be next in line to be murdered.

Further Attacks

More attacks have occurred by the Islamic extremists, due to the rise in violence in Bangladesh the government had decided to raise the security level, which meant more police and checkpoints, on two occasions when a police officer does a random check on a vehicle they had been stabbed to death before the disgraceful murders shot off on their motorbikes, the government had a new message for checkpoint police and that is to open fire to the slightest of troubles.

Another Foreigner

On the 18th November an Italian priest was shot whilst he was cycling to the church in which he works at in the city of Dinajpur, north of Dhaka; the attack was once again blamed on Islamic extremists, the priest was identified as Piero who had only just survived the attack, he has lived in Bangladesh for the last 25 years, he not only runs the church in Dinajpur but also volunteers at a local hospital, a true hero in my eyes and defiantly someone who doesn't deserve such barbaric actions, as he was cycling three gunmen on a motorcycle shot him several times at close range before fleeing the scene, one bullet hit Piero in the neck. Whilst this attack was happening my car had broken down on the outskirts of Dhaka, the one place they tell foreigners to avoid stopping.

It is strange to think that after all these attacks the Bangladeshi government are denying that Islamic extremists had anything to do with the attacks and that they were all talk no action but I believe that they are wrong or trying to hide the truth, I don't understand what is going through their minds when so much is happening around the world to do with Islamic extremism, especially after the recent attacks in Paris, Beirut and Kenya.

Shut down of Social Media

Sites and apps that include Facebook, Whatsapp and Viber had been taken down, I am a little confused for why, some websites are saying it is to stop terrorist communicating with each other and other sites are saying it is to do with the hartal on the 19th November which could form a violent protest about the hanging of two old war criminals, I guess I will never know the truth about this, all I know is I can't really contact any friends or relatives back home during the time when I need to keep my mother up to date with the current affairs of what is happening here in Bangladesh.

Shooting at a Shia Mosque

On the 25th November 2015 a Shia mosque was targeted by terrorists, at least one person died on that frightful night along with three other people injured; during the evening prayer masked miscreants opened fire on devotees in the district of Shibganj, this is a second attack on the Shia population of Bangladesh.

The Threat of getting shot

You have a strange feeling knowing it can all end in just a blink, when you walk down the road the tingling feeling of butterflies in your stomach becomes so natural, your eyes are on constant surveillance of everything and everyone, thoughts race through your mind and your nerves jump at the slightest of notices, I remember walking down the road and the sound of a car backfiring nearly caused me to jump out of my skin; I have never experienced this threat in my life, it was a whole new experience for me, as I walked down the road, even just to the office I couldn't rest, I was thinking of my whole time I have been in Bangladesh, the experiences and friends that I have out here, as well as the thought of my family and friends back home; I didn't want it to all end just in a split second.

It is quite hard to explain the feeling of the threat of yourself getting shot; I suppose you will have to be in the situation yourself to be able to get the true feeling of what the experience feels like.