Two Bangladeshi expatriates, an Imam and his assistant, were killed by an assailant outside a mosque in Queens in New York City on August 15. The killings have brought condemnation from a large segment of U.S. society. We share the grief of the Bangladeshi community in America. This is the first time that Muslim clerics have been targeted in the U.S. And while many have attributed the killings to hate crime, we hope that is not the case. The incident has occurred at a time when Islamophobia is sweeping through the United States and the rest of the world and, sadly enough, being utilised in the run up to the presidential elections by Donald Trump. Needless to say, the killings have outraged and induced fear in the Bangladeshi community and the only way to placate their mind is to identify and bring the killer to justice as quickly as possible.

Indeed, fingers have been pointed towards the Republican candidate whose utterances have generated anti-Muslim sentiments in the US. Although the party he represents doesn't condone his racist comments, the fact is that the incessant rhetoric against Muslims at large will only aid in polarising American society and crimes such as this might be replicated. 

A country like the United States, which is long considered to be the "melting pot" where people of different races and religions had come together to build a common future – can hardly afford a regime of intolerance.