Religious tensions were high in a central Bangladesh district as hundreds of demonstrators started fires and blocked roads on Wednesday to protest last week’s deadly beating of two Muslims by a mob, allegedly of Hindus, police said.
In the event of the Dalai Lama’s death, Buddhist monks are banned from displaying photos of the Tibetan spiritual leader and other “illegal religious activities and rituals,” according to a training manual Chinese authorities have distributed to monasteries in Gansu province in China’s northwest, a source inside Tibet and exiled former political prisoner Golok Jigme said.
Chinese authorities have forbidden the admission of new monks of all ages into a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Chamdo prefecture in eastern Tibet amid growing restrictions on religious activities in the country, two sources familiar with the development told Radio Free Asia.
A Bangladesh government circular asking Hindus to stop or limit the use of loudspeakers during daily Muslim prayers infringes on religious freedom, leaders of the minority group said as their community prepared to celebrate the Durga Puja festival.
Malaysia’s government has banned a locally made feature film about a Muslim girl who explores other religions’ views on reincarnation after her mother dies, saying it runs “contrary to public interest.”
After a Muslim mob attacked churches and homes belonging to the Christian community in the city of Jaranwala in Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab, authorities in that country have arrested at least 170 people.The attack came as allegations of desecration of the Quran by two Christian men emerged Wednesday, August 16.However, some attack victims say they may never feel safe again as residents return to secenes of destruction and officials step up efforts to restore
Tearing down tents and destroying a colorful sand mandala, Chinese authorities on Wednesday stopped a gathering where a Tibetan Buddhist lama was scheduled to preach – and tried to block online photos and descriptions of the incident, two Tibetans with knowledge of the situation said.
The Malaysian government has decided to withdraw its appeal against a High Court ruling that allowed non-Muslims to use the word “Allah” to refer to God, the Attorney General’s office confirmed Monday, about a highly divisive issue in the Muslim-majority country.
An International Women’s Day march, a film about a Muslim character exploring other religions’ views on the afterlife, and an interfaith program have all recently become targets of religious conservatives’ outrage in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
A mob violence in northern Ethiopia in April that killed at least 30 Muslims and injured 100 others has prompted Christian retaliation strikes