Bangladeshi woman, believed to be Sufi mystic, found with throat slit

A 72-year-old woman, believed to be a Sufi mystic, was found with her throat slit in her house in Dhaka, amid a series of systematic assaults in Bangladesh targeting minorities, Sufis and bloggers.

A 72-year-old woman, believed to be a Sufi mystic, was found with her throat slit in her house in Dhaka, police said on Monday, amid a series of systematic assaults in Bangladesh targeting minorities, Sufis and bloggers.

Over a dozen Sufi Muslims have been found with their throats slit in Bangladesh since 2013. The authorities blamed homegrown Islamist extremists for the killings. (Representative Photo/ Shutterstock)

Nurjahan Begum, who lived alone, was found dead in her tin-roofed house near the Martyrs’ Graveyard in the capital’s Mirpur on Sunday evening, police officer Farukul Islam said.

“Her throat was slit,” the Daily Star newspaper quoted Islam as saying.

The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College morgue for an autopsy.

Citing locals, the paper said Nurjahan was known as Kheta Pagli and she had quite a following for the last eight years. Her followers considered her a “pir” or Sufi mystic. They built her the house and many of them gave her food and money.

Locals said her followers had been looking for her since Sunday afternoon. Failing to find her, they pushed the partly open door of her room in the evening and found her body covered in a blanket.

Over a dozen Sufi Muslims have been found with their throats slit in Bangladesh since 2013. The authorities blamed homegrown Islamist extremists for the killings.