Buddhist clerics hold Christians captive

Buddhist clerics and local council officials are holding 13 newly converted Christians captive in a pagoda (temple) in a southeastern mountainous district of Bangladesh in an attempt to forcibly return them to Buddhism.

A spokesman for the Parbatta Adivasi (Hill Tract) Christian Church said that local government council officials in Jorachuri subdistrict in Rangamati district, some 186 miles southeast of Dhaka, are helping the Buddhist monks hold the Christians against their will.

Fearing for their lives, the source said, some area Christians have gone into hiding. Mogdhan Union Council Chairman Arun Kanti Chakma warned that Christian converts would be ostracized, beaten or killed, the source said.
“The chairman threatened to beat the Christians unless they change their faith to Buddhism,” he said. (CD)