Lay Pastor Beheaded in Bangladesh

Widow fears reprisals from murderers as she struggles to support her family.

by Sarah Page

DUBLIN, April 4 (Compass) -- Sources have confirmed the murder by beheading on March 8 of Dulal Sarkar, a lay pastor and evangelist in Bangladesh.

Sarkar, 35, worked with a local branch of the Bangladesh Free Baptist Church in Jalalpur village, in the southwest division of Khulna. He had planted several churches in the area and also worked as a guard and general caretaker for the church.

The week before he was murdered, he shared his faith with several Muslim villagers who became Christians. He then brought them to the church for counseling with the senior pastor.

On March 8, Sarkar once again talked about his faith with a number of villagers. On his way home, he was attacked by a group of armed men who, as one source said, “separated his head from his body.” The assailants were later identified as a group of 10 local Muslim extremists.

Sarkar’s wife immediately filed a police report and officers arrested three of the accused. However, local Christians say the remaining seven, who have connections with the Jamaat-e-Islami political party, have tried to bribe the police to get the suspects out of jail.

The pastor leaves behind his wife, Aruna, and five children; Daniel, Joseph, Parboti, Moses and Tutol. His mother has also lived with the family since his father passed away some years ago.

Aruna, struggling financially since her husband’s death, has now asked a Christian orphanage to take care of three of her children while she works in the fields. The church itself is poor and cannot afford to fully support the family.

The extremists also threatened Aruna after she filed the police report, forcing her to move from house to house in an effort to protect herself and her children.

Local Christians have done everything possible to ensure that justice is done. However, the legal system in Bangladesh is notoriously corrupt, and the political influence of Jamaat-e-Islami may prevent the case from going to court.

The incident was the second beheading in the space of a year. On September 18, 2004, Dr. Abdul Gani, a prominent Christian, was decapitated by a gang of assailants as he returned home from work around 9:30 p.m.

A source close to the doctor reported, “The moment he came under a banyan tree, these terrorist people attacked him and slaughtered him with sharp knives. We Christians are all very sad about this event.”

Dr. Abdul Gani and his family converted to Christianity in 1995. He was a respected Christian leader and medical practitioner in his home district of Jamalpur, 140 kilometers north of the capital, Dhaka.

Abdul Gani -- also known by his Christian name, Joseph Gomez -- was a counsel member of the Bangladesh Baptist Fellowship and frequently worked with members of the Catholic church.

According to an Asia News report, he once mortgaged his own home to raise funds for flood victims. Neighbors described him as a very compassionate man.

Christian evangelist Hridoy Roy was also murdered in April 2003. A group of eight men attacked him just after midnight as he returned home from showing the “JESUS Film” in a rural village. Entering his house, the assailants tied Hridoy Roy to his bed in “crucifixion style” and repeatedly stabbed him until he died.

Muslim neighbors had warned him several times to stop showing the “JESUS Film” and other films on the life of Christ.

Bangladesh has suffered from religious disharmony since 1971, when the nation was partitioned from Pakistan. The country is approximately 83 percent Muslim and 16 percent Hindu. Buddhists and Christians make up the remaining one percent.

Islam was declared the official state religion in 1998.

The current government is a coalition of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and three other Islamic parties. The third largest party, Jamaat-e-Islami, wants to turn Bangladesh into an entirely Islamic nation.

In February, a source who prefers to remain anonymous told Compass, “Our country is passing through a very tough time. Last year two evangelists were killed. Another was badly injured and is now undergoing treatment in India. This killing of Protestant ministers is happening for the first time in many years.”

Lay Pastor Beheaded in Bangladesh