Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar: Persecution continues

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Myanmar | 31 January 2016

On 6 January 2016, a 75 year old MBB Pastor in Jenaidah, Bangladesh, Khaza Somiruddin, was‚ stabbed to death (as reported by Zeenews on 8 January). Notwithstanding claims of responsibility made by Islamic State (IS), authorities still blame local extremist groups. A few days later, Reverend Gilbart Biswas was arrested on claims of suspicious behavior, as reported by AsiaNews on 13 January 2016. He was preaching the gospel and distributing booklets during the second largest Muslim pilgrimage taking place near Dhaka. UCAnews reported on 12 January 2016 how the peace and reconciliation process in Myanmar is still making little progress. Key players mainly from Kachin State even boycotted the conference as did representatives of Shan State (which has a sizeable Christian minority). A first meeting in January brought no change since army attacks on ethnic (often Christian) minorities continue on a low level. Indonesia had made international headlines in October 2015 due to a government initiative which caused the destruction of several church buildings in the province of Aceh and put pressure on other churches to register quickly.‚ Since then, churches in Aceh saw the threat of having tents removed‚ which had been put up in order to celebrate Christmas. The situation remains volatile and it is unclear if the tents are allowed to remain. Thomas Mueller, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: ‚ "During the preparation and publication of WWL 2016, the bimonthly reports paused. Despite celebrating a new year, one gets the impression that not much has changed. As these snapshots show, the persecution of Christians - especially in many countries in South East Asia - continues with sickening frequency.‚ 2016 may have many different things in store for the Christians there, but possible improvements in their situation are already looking rare, especially if one takes into account the other news reported on South East Asia in this bimonthly." ‚