Dhaka must clamp down on Islamist zealots
The killing of humanist blogger Avijit Roy in Dhaka last week by Islamist zealots is not just an attack on free speech. It points to the increasing muscle-power of intolerant fringe elements in Bangladesh who are fast moving towards the political centre. A little-known extremist group, Ansar Bangla 7, has taken responsibility for the murderous attack on Thursday on Roy and his wife, who is also a blogger. The attack has brought back bloody memories of the murders of Rajib Haider in 2013 and Humayun Azad in 2004. All three wrote against the rise of religious fanaticism in Bangladesh, were particularly critical of Islamist political parties such as the Jamaat-e-Islami, and had demanded justice for 1971 war criminals. Haider was one of the leading voices of the 2013 Shahbagh movement that rallied around the Sheikh Hasina administration as it pushed through the 1971 war crimes trial.
The movement pressured the Bangladeshi Government to hang the convicts, and later also demanded the black-listing of the Jamaat (it has since been banned from electoral politics) and its affiliated institutions. Shahbagh was a pushback against Islamic fundamentalism by the Bangladeshi public and built on the values that liberal thinkers like Roy, Haider and Azad extolled. And like Shahbagh in 2013, The outpouring of public support for Roy is an indication on how the people view the road ahead. Will the Government be able to respond in a fitting manner by conducting a thorough investigation and bringing the perpetrators to justiceIJ Unfortunately, its past record offers little cause for optimism. The killers of Haider and Azad still walk free. One can only hope that Roy's case will mark a turning point. This is important not only for the cause of justice but also to contain the rising tide of Islamist violence. Unless the Government takes decisive steps, there's a possibility that Bangladesh too may follow Pakistan down the path of religious intolerance and Islamist extremism. So dire is the situation in Pakistan today that, forget about minorities, even Sunni Muslims advocating basic religious freedom are not safe, as the 2011 assassination of Salman Taseer, the powerful Governor of Punjab, stands proof.
In the case of Roy, it will be interesting to see how the US Government responds to the situation, beyond issuing the usual condemnatory statement, since the deceased was an American citizen. As of now, it has offered to assist Dhaka with the investigation, but only time will tell if it will also pressure the authorities to ensure that the case is taken to its logical conclusion. Hopefully, in the long term, incidents such as these will also compel the US and the West to rethink their Bangladesh policies so that there's greater global support for secular forces (such as the Awami league) in Dhaka and lesser, or more preferably, no scope, for the legitimisation or even rehabilitation of Islamist forces in their own countries.