Bangladesh: Christian clergyman arrested as “threat” to Islamic pilgrimage

JANUARY 14, 2016 BY ROBERT SPENCER

Any of Rev. Gilbert Biswas’ Western colleagues would have told him: he was needlessly provoking Muslims. He was poking them in the eye. He should show more respect, which means curtail everything that Muslims find offensive. If you do something that Muslims find offensive, like preaching Christianity, you’re just needlessly causing offense. You’re harming the dialogue. Surrender and submission are the way of Western clergymen. They’re the way of the future.

“Christian clergyman arrested as a ‘threat’ to the Bishwa Ijtema Islamic pilgrimage,” Asia News, January 13, 2016 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Dhaka (AsiaNews) – Bangladeshi police detained Rev Gilbart Biswas for preaching the Gospel and selling religious booklets during Bishwa Ijtema, the second largest Islamic pilgrimage in the world after the Hajj, which is held every year in Tongi (near Dhaka), on the banks of the Turag River.

The clergyman was taken into custody last Saturday. Deployed to provide security to the event, police justified his arrest on “security grounds” because of his “suspicious behaviour”. One officer said that “no one can proclaim the Gospel on other religious sites.”

In reality, the Constitution of Bangladesh guarantees every citizen the right to profess, practice and propagate their faith.

“We are very concerned about the arrest of Rev Gilbart Biswas,” said a fellow clergyman, anonymous for security reasons. “He did not commit any crime and was arrested illegally by the police, which has not yet released him.”

Now the “judge wants to read the booklet Rev Gilbart Biswas distributed,” he added. “After reading it, he will give his verdict.”

The Bishwa Ijtema (Global congregation or World Meeting in Bangla) is an annual event organised by the Tabligi Jamaat (Society for the spread of the faith), a transnational religious and non-political movement that seeks the spiritual reform of Islam….

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/01/bangladesh-christian-clergyman-arrested-as-threat-to-islamic-pilgrimage