Bangladesh Police Detain 20 After Killing of University Professor

By Syed Zain Al-Mahmood 

DHAKA, Bangladesh--Police in Bangladesh detained 20 people over the weekend after the killing of a university professor was linked to what is possibly a previously unknown Islamic militant group.

Shafiul Islam, who taught sociology at the University of Rajshahi in northern Bangladesh, was fatally stabbed Saturday afternoon near his home on a campus where political feuds have turned violent in the past, police said.

"We're pursuing every possibility, including the involvement of a militant group," said Mahbubur Rahman, the local police chief.

He said the people detained were held for questioning. They remain in custody, and no one has been charged.

The police chief said no direct link to the killing has yet been established. The police haven't released details of those detained.

Speculation centered on the role of radical Islamists after someone set up a Facebook page shortly after the killing for "Ansar al-Islam Bangladesh-2."

A post on the page said: "Our fighters struck down an apostate in Rajshahi today, a man who banned the burqa from his class and department." The post referenced a 2010 newspaper article that said the professor had attempted to ban the burqa, an outer garment worn by some Muslim women.

A professor at the university said Prof. Islam had opposed the niqab -- or face veil -- but hadn't banned students who wore the burqa.

Munirul Islam, a senior police detective, said law-enforcement agencies weren't aware of any militant group by that name. "It could be a splinter group of an existing militant organization or it could be something else," he said.

Mr. Islam, no relation to the professor, said there was an emerging pattern of Facebook pages being opened to claim responsibility after killings in Bangladesh.

Those pages, apparently created with the purpose of claiming responsibility on behalf of a militant group, were usually closed soon afterward, he said.

Some security analysts said it was unclear why a militant group would attack Prof. Islam more than four years after his alleged stance on burqas. He was returning home alone when he was attacked, police said.

A statement from the university called on the police to catch the killers and ensure security for teachers and students.

The university has seen a series of killings in recent years amid fighting by student wings of rival political parties. Clashes between students' groups that try to use the campus as a hub of political activity are common and frequently turn bloody.

In 2006, Abu Taher, a professor of geology, was killed at his home on campus. A court sentenced one of the victim's colleagues along with three others to death in connection with the killing.

Militant attacks are rare in Bangladesh, the world's third-largest Muslim-majority nation.

After a spate of bomb attacks in 2005 by outlawed Islamic group Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, its leaders were hanged by the government of then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

Islam has been at the center of political tensions in recent years, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League accusing the opposition of supporting extremist groups.

The opposition led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, says the government's persecution of mainstream Islamist parties risks fostering extremism.

Write to Syed Zain Al-Mahmood at [e-mail]

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