Killings of three bloggers in Bangladesh since February have sparked international criticism with rising concerns about safety and security of free-thinking men and women.
Deutsch Welle ran a story titled “Bangladesh no loner ‘safe’ for bloggers” after the killing of contributor to the Mukto-Mona blog site, Ananta Bijoy Das, in Sylhet on Tuesday.
“He was one of 84 bloggers and activists named on a list compiled by Islamists which has been circulating on the Internet since 2013,” reads the story.
It also referred to the claims by local bloggers that Ananta was the ninth blogger in the hit list but the police did not act against the evil plan.
Amnesty International, the United States, Human Rights Watch, the United Kingdom and also a number of media outlets termed the killing an attack on free thinking people and expressed serious concern.
Wall Street Journal writes that fears grow about increasing radicalisation in Muslim-majority country
“Bitter confrontation between the government and the opposition over last year’s national elections has resulted in widespread violence in Bangladesh and given rise to a political vacuum that experts say could aid the rise of extremist groups,” said the WSJ report after the killing of the third blogger in the year.
Washington Post reported that Ananta Bijoy Das, a Bangladeshi writer known for advocating science and secularism, was hacked to death by masked men wielding machetes while on his way to work Tuesday morning.
“Attacks on progressive writers and critics of Islam are happening with increasing regularity in Bangladesh, where nearly 90 percent of citizens are Muslim and religious conservatism is a rising response to political turmoil ,” the newspaper expressed its view.
According to Gulf News, secular activists marched on Wednesday through the Bangladeshi city of Sylhet to demand justice for a rationalist blogger hacked to death, the third such attack by suspected Islamists since February.
The newspaper reported that scores of activists, mostly university students, peacefully protested through the northeastern city, accusing the government of failing to protect free thinkers and urging authorities to halt “this evil force”.
Source: Prothom Alo
