In a prelude to the showdown, IKNMB, meanwhile, reasserted its plan to capture the complex during a rally held on Sunday night in defiance of police.

Human rights organisations, speaking at a press conference at the National Press Club in the capital yesterday, announced a series of resistance programmes, including grand rallies at Satkhira on May 26 and 30, a press conference in Jessore on May 25, and a view exchanging meeting in Khulna on May 26. The programmes, they say, are intended to resist the religious bigots since the government has shown indifference toward the Ahmadiyya communities.

Their remarks came after IKNMB and their supporters, ignoring the resistance of police forces, held a scheduled rally at about 9:00pm on Sunday at the Mantala intersection in Kaligonj upazila. Police earlier prevented them from holding the rally, which IKNMB had announced in preparation for capturing the Ahmadiyya mosque at Shampur Bazar in Satkhira on June 1.

IKNMB said it will seize the mosque if a case filed against IKNMB leaders is not withdrawn by May 30. Ahmadiyyas filed the case with the Shamnagar Police Station after supporters of the anti-Ahmadiyya outfit attacked them, injuring over 50 people, including women and children, and looted at least 10 houses at Sundarban Bazar of Shamnagar upazila on April 17.

IKNMB has also demanded that a signboard, which they posted on the Ahmadiyya mosque on April 17, be hung again by May 30. The sign read, 'A place of worship for the Ahmadiyya Community, Sundarban Bazar' and advised Muslims not to mistake the place as a mosque.

Police did not stop Sunday night's rally, which began as soon as IKNMB's Nayebe Anir Mufti, Noor Hossain Nuruni, reached Mantala at about 8:30pm. Mufti Nuruni, an accused in the case filed by Ahmadiyyas, said supporters of IKNMB will compel the government to declare the Ahmadiyyas as non-Muslim by December 31 by launching a mass movement.

"Police have violated the constitution as well as Islam by trying to prevent them from holding the rally, which is part of their religious rights," he said.

In light of such activities, human rights organisations yesterday urged all, including the government, to create public awareness for protecting the rights of the Ahmadiyyas at the local level. "Religious bigots are acting against freedom of speech and freedom of religion - which is contrary to the spirit of the Liberation War and the Independence of Bangladesh - by launching attacks on the Ahmadiyyas," said Sultana Kamal, executive director of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK).

Other speakers accused the government of turning a blind eye to the harassment of the Ahmadiyya community. "It is clear to us that the BNP-Jamaat government is giving indirect support to the religious bigots," said Advocate Ruhul Quddus of Jatiya Ainjibee Parishad.

Maksuda Akhter of Bangladesh Mohila Parishad, Dr Kaustina Pereira of Jatiya Ainjibee Parishad, SM Monjur Rashid of Action Aid Bangladesh, Farida Yasmin of Nari Pakkha, Maksuda Akhtar of Bangladesh Mohila Parishad and Lina Jamin of Nari and Manabadhikar Foundation were present.

The other organisations taking part in the conference included Nijera Kori, Bangladesh Mohila Ainjibee Samitee, Manabadhikar Bastabayan Sangstha, Durbar Network and Odhikar.