Govt reaffirms commitment to communal harmony after church blast arrest

The interim government has iterated its unwavering commitment to protecting interfaith unity and communal harmony, warning that any attempt to disrupt the nation’s long-standing tradition of religious coexistence will be met with the full force of the law.

In a press release issued this afternoon by the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing, the government made the statement following the arrest of a 28-year-old suspect in connection with a series of recent crude bomb explosions at Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Kakrail – the country’s premier Catholic church – and Saint Joseph High School, a Catholic-run educational institution, at Mohammadpur in Dhaka.

According to the release, initial police investigations have identified the suspect as a member of the Chhatra League, the outlawed student wing of the deposed Awami League, whose organisational activities remain banned under current government directives.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), working jointly with the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), has intensified a citywide manhunt to capture all those involved in what the government described as “heinous and cowardly acts of violence”.

Security measures have been heightened across all churches and places of worship in the capital, the release added, emphasising that law enforcement agencies remain on high alert to prevent any further attempts to incite religious tension or unrest.