ICC Note:
Another convent in Bangladesh has been attacked and robbed in the past four days in Bangladesh. Earlier in the week, a convent near Khulna was robbed by unknown criminals. On February 10th, St. Mary’s Catholic Mother Care Center, located near Dhaka, was also attacked by criminals. Christians in Bangladesh make up a very small minority of the country’s Muslim dominated population. Often, Christians face discrimination and occasionally outright persecution because of their religious identity. With this recent string of attacks, it would not be unreasonable to think that criminals view Christian institutions as easy targets for crime.
2/13/2016 Bangladesh (Asia News) – It is the second attack on Catholic nuns in four days. On the night between February 10 and 11 in Tumilia, a village 47 km from the capital Dhaka, about 12 criminals broke into St. Mary’s Catholic Mother Care Center, a hospital clinic run by religious Associate of Mary, Queen of the Apostles (SMRA), a local congregation founded in 1933.
The attack ended without violence and with some stolen items. Two thieves were captured and taken to the police, who have opened an investigation.
On the night between February 6 and 7, a similar incident happened in Chuadanga district, 161 km west of the capital, raising the suspicion that the attacks on Catholic nuns are not just isolated cases.
The Tumilia robbery took place in the buildings housing patients of the Centre, the nuns and nurses. Sister Mary Pronoti, director of the facility, says that at night (local time at 2:30) three men came climbing over the wall. Other accomplices were waiting outside the convent.
After gagging the guards, the three criminals went in search of cash. “They broke down the door of my room – says Sister Mary – and were armed. They threatened me and asked where I held the money. I had no other choice I gave them all the cash we had 700 taka (about 9 Euros).”
Another nun, Mary Chamaly, noticed that someone had entered the hospital of the convent and immediately called the superior general of the congregation, who resides in Dhaka. The Superior contacted the Tumilia parish priest, Fr. Dominic Rozario, who began to ring the bells of the church, rallying the community. Muslims and Christians flocked to church, where they caught two thieves and the police took them to the station. The other criminals managed to escape.
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