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| Bangladesh is a small country packed with 160 million people, so land disputes are common and it is often the poor who suffer most. (Photo: Rock Ronald Rozario/ucanews) |
Residents in a southern Bangladesh village were
shocked to hear that a violent clash erupted recently between two Catholic
families.
The mob violence was the culmination of a bitter
dispute lasting more than two years over ownership of a small plot of land.
South Haldibunia village is near the country's
second largest port — Mongla in Bagerhat district — and also close to the
Sundarbans mangrove forest, an area covered by St. Paul's Church in Mongla
under Khulna Diocese.
The sense of shock was understandable, happening in
a village where people of various faiths — Catholic Christians, Hindus and
Muslims — have been living peacefully together for decades.
