‘We are next to be killed’ : Rising Radical Islamist extremism in Bangladesh

[Arthur]

Home > Bangladesh
Miscreants hack to death two people in Dhaka’s Kalabagan
Staff Correspondent, bdnews24.com

Published: 2016-04-25 19:24:50.0 BdST Updated: 2016-04-25 20:21:45.0 BdST

Unknown assailants have hacked two men to death inside a house in capital Dhaka’s Kalabagan, two days after a Rajshahi University teacher was murdered in similar fashion near his home.

One of the victims of the Monday attack has been identified as USAID official Xulhaz Manna, a cousin of former foreign minister Dipu Moni.

Manna had also worked as a protocol officer at the US embassy in Dhaka.

Better known for his gay-rights activism in the country, Mannan also edited ‘Roopban’, the first magazine advocating for the rights of homosexuals.

The murders took place inside ‘Asia Nibas’, a six-storey building on Lake Circus Road, around 5pm, DMP Additional Commissioner Ruhul Amin Sagar told bdnews24.com.

The incident occurred hours after Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said Saturday’s murder of the university teacher in Rajshahi City and the killing of a retired prisons guard in Gazipur on Monday morning were ‘isolated incidents’ and the people should not feel insecure.



More to follow

 

[Arthur]

https://defence.pk/threads/after-ra...s-eliminating-islam-as-state-religion.424137/

https://defence.pk/threads/bangladesh-considering-abandoning-islam-as-its-official-religion.424482/
https://defence.pk/threads/banglade...ce-‘initially’-surprised-russia-envoy.423880/

https://defence.pk/threads/why-isla...-to-the-mask-of-secularism-for-hindus.426622/

https://defence.pk/threads/secular-activist-who-criticised-islamism-killed-in-dhaka.426565/

https://defence.pk/threads/isis-bangladesh-chief-wants-bengal-to-be-center-of-global-jihad.426894/

https://defence.pk/threads/banglade...uspected-islamist-attack.427891/#post-8265529


Since it has became a trend in BD,Moderators should consider merging these threads.

@waz @Oscar

 

[Riyad]

Bangladesh LGBT editor hacked to death

Students have protested against the previous killing, which saw a university professor hacked to death on Saturday

A leading gay rights activist and editor at Bangladesh's only LGBT magazine has been hacked to death, media reports and officials say.

Another person was also killed and one person injured when attackers entered an apartment in Dhaka, police said.

Julhas Mannan was an editor at LGBT magazine Roopbaan and previously worked at the US embassy, friends said.

The killing comes two days after a university teacher was hacked to death by suspected Islamist militants.

Since February last year suspected militants have killed several secular or atheist writers and members of religious minority groups.

Lurching from secularism to sectarian terror?

Who is behind the Bangladesh killings?

BBC Bengali Service editor Sabir Mustafa said staff at Roopbaan, which had not been condemned by the government and received some support from foreign embassies, had been careful to protect their identities but had not believed their lives were at risk.

Suspected extremists in Bangladesh are gaining a sense of security that they can carry out killings with impunity, he says.

Meanwhile Bangladesh's best known blogger said he had received a death threat on Sunday.

Imran Sarker, who led major protests by secular activists in 2013 against Islamist leaders, said he had received a phone call warning that he would be killed "very soon".

Earlier this month, a Bangladeshi law student who had expressed secular views online died when he was hacked with machetes and then shot in Dhaka.

Last year, four prominent secular bloggers were also killed with machetes.

The four bloggers had all appeared on a list of 84 "atheist bloggers" drawn up by Islamic groups in 2013 and widely circulated.

There have also been attacks on members of religious minorities including Shia, Sufi and Ahmadi Muslims, Christians and Hindus.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh is officially secular but critics say the government has failed to properly address the attacks.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36128729

 

[Arthur]

Home > Bangladesh

Rajshahi University VC says ‘we are next to be killed’
Rajshahi University Correspondent, bdnews24.com

Published: 2016-04-24 22:31:25.0 BdST Updated: 2016-04-24 22:31:25.0 BdST

Rajshahi University Vice-Chancellor Prof Muhammad Mizanuddin has said that if teachers do not unite against the ‘dark forces’, they might all be killed like Professor AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee.

He was speaking after taking part in a silent procession of the RU Teachers’ Association on Sunday, demanding exemplary punishment to Siddiquee’s murderers.

“If we look back, we see a lot of people being murdered... I feel as if we are joining a rally of death.

“Teachers and free thinkers have been killed in such ways that I feel we are next to be killed,” he said.

Professor Rezaul Karim was hacked to death by assailants near his residence on Saturday morning.Police suspected it was the work of fundamentalist elements.

The incident left his colleagues and students shocked and angry. Classes and examinations scheduled on Saturday and Sunday were suspended.

The professor was a ‘man of peace, literature and culture’, who stayed away from ‘any sort of trouble’ and political activities.

The murder followed a now-familiar pattern seen in the recent killing of bloggers and online activists as well as foreigners — the use of sharp weapons and the targeting the head or neck.

Four Rajshahi University teachers have been murdered in the past 12 years.

Those killed were economics professor Mohammad Yunus, geology and mining professor Sheikh Taher Ahmed, sociology professor AKM Shafiul Islam and English professor Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, the latest victim.

A group named 'Ansar al Islam Bangladesh-2' had claimed credit for the murder professor Islam on Nov 15, 2014.

 

[bongbang]

BNP-Jamaat engaged in secret killing to destabilize country: PM

DHAKA, April 25, 2016 (BSS) - Accusing BNP-Jamaat nexus of different killing incidents like Kalabagan double murder, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said the BNP-Jamaat clique has been engaged in "clandestine killing" to destabilize the country.

"Everybody knows who were behind such killings...the BNP-Jamaat nexus has been engaged in such secret and heinous murders in various forms to destabilize the country," she said.

Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League chief, said the BNP-Jamaat nexus was involved in anti-social acts before the January 5 polls. "But failing in the movement to foil the elections, they have embarked on the secret killings," she said.

The Prime Minister made the comments while addressing a meeting of Awami League nomination board for poursabha and union parishad polls at her official Ganobhaban residence here this evening.

PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.

"It's not a matter of law and order situation... when the country is moving forward such killings are being staged in a planned way to destabilize the country," Sheikh Hasina said.

The Premier said those who are involved in such killings must be tracked down and brought to book.

She urged the countrymen to remain alert and resist such killings. She also called upon the people to extend cooperation to the law enforcement agencies by providing information.

http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=570678&date=2016-04-25

 

[Arthur]

Bangladesh's pluralism at risk: Guardian
Online Desk | Update: 21:50, Apr 26, 2016


Guardian_HasinaMurders of gay activists and secularists highlight culture of impunity, with premier Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government increasingly being accused of failing to act, reports The Guardian.
It says her government is “under growing pressure in Bangladesh to end an apparent culture of impunity after a series of brutal murders of secular writers, bloggers and liberal intellectuals by radical Isla mists”.
The British newspaper pointed out that a torrent of protest followed the latest killings, on Monday night, of Xulhaz Mannan, editor of the country’s only lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender magazine (LGBT), and Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, an actor and fellow gay rights activist.

“It is shocking that no one has been held to account for these horrific attacks and that almost no protection has been given to threatened members of civil society,” Guardian quoted Amnesty International’s Champa Patel as saying, reacting to the four killings so far this month.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, echoed the criticism, along with other western leaders.
Since 2013, attacks characterised by the assailants’ use of machetes and cleavers have claimed the lives of secular bloggers, authors, journalists, academics and teachers of what the newspaper termed a liberal bent.
Westerners in general have also been randomly targeted in the past 12 months, as have members of Bangladesh’s Shia and Ahmadi Muslim minorities, Hindus and Christian converts, said Guardian said in a report titled “Bangladesh's pluralism is at risk if Sheikh Hasina does not stop extremists”.
The official response has been seen as largely inadequate, said the newspaper. It mentioned that seven men were convicted last year of a 2013 attack, but most of the murders have gone unsolved and unpunished.
Guardian said Hasina and the Awami League stand accused of a lack of political will, and more broadly, of risking the collapse of Bangladesh’s secular, post-independence democratic tradition by marginalising the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP), and over-controlling the national political discourse.

 

[Arthur]

I have no confidence in the judicial process : Abul Kashem Fazlul Haque

Prothom Alo: The Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said Avijit Roy and illumination Arefin Faisal one or two killers fled the country.

Abul Kashem Fazlul Haque: I have no confidence in the judicial process. Just have distrust. In order to ensure the rule of law judicial trial is must, it is the duty of the government. Personally, I do not believe in violence-vendettas. But would execution, imprisonment of some, get Deppon back? What will it do any good to him now? Some lost their lives like Deepan-Avijit due to the nature of today’s politics; I would like to end that politics. Clap never occurs with one hand. I want the community’s sensible debut.
Prothom Alo: But the police failed to keep the suspects under surveillance.

Abul Kasem Fazlul Haque: A lot of people have criticized it. I do not want to say any more. At first the police would keep correspondence. Not anymore. Police were sitting in front of my house for quite some time. I told them to go away. In fact, it doesn’t only depend on the police, condemning the police won’t have any benefit. The government and many others are talking about these killings. It is clear that these killings are part of a larger plan. These killings can’t be treated as ordinary criminal act. It’s result of many ideological, political, historical reasons. This situation was not created all on a sudden. Many things need to be understudied. The Prime Minister mentioned in his speech, in the name of free thinking **** should not be promoted. He says, in the name of free thinking dirt talking or obscene words about Prophet Muhammad and Islam is not permissible. This is completely justified. Since 1981 I have been saying the same. Although I did not use “pornography’ or “obscene words”. There is always been debate about secularism in the Constitution.Islam has been added later in the Constitution.And it added to the debate. I think, now, to prevent terrorism,State religion and Secularism both need to be removed from the constitution.There is important reasons behind the rise of international terrorism.

Prothom Alo: can you explain?

Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq: What happened in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya? What's going on? The United States has provided assistance to the rise of the Taliban against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda in the Middle East countries, such as the IS militant group has been created. Now terrorist organizations are attacking countries in Asia, Europe and America in the name of Islam. The Government of Bangladesh, India and the United States signed a deal to battle militancy. As a result,Taliban,Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State targeted Bangladesh and India. Our solutions should be considered according to the fact and circumstances with full honesty.

Prothom Alo: What could be the solution?

Abul Kasem Fazlul Haque: “Fundamentalism doesn’t go with our country” this concept has been imposed on us. Narendra Modi ,United States and the Prime Minister speaking in the same tone increase problems, don’t decrease. We have to solve the problem with the peoples participation. We need people’s unity on this. Political parties, intellectuals should come to agreement among themselves now. We have to solve our problems by ourselves. The concept of democracy should be reorganized. And attempts to de-politicize are not a good idea.


First Light: bye. How are you? ‘Jagriti’ (publishing company) What is the status?

Abul Kasem Fazlul Haque: Deepan was an avid friend. He had So many friends. Jagriti earned fame too. His wife Razia Rahman is a doctor. She had a private practice. She doesn’t see patientds anymore. She is trying to keep ‘jagriti’ alive. I help as much possible from the back as much in my age. I will continue.

Prothom Alo: The day Deepon Arefin Faisal was murdered, his son Ridat Farhan had JSC test.

Abul Kasem Fazlul Haque: Yes.He studies in Udayan School, is now in the ninth grade. Deepon’s daughter Ridhma is in seventh grade. Ridhama was attached with her father the most. Two children is so sad now a days. Police had taken away some of Deepons belongings and kept to themselves. I asked them to return, police did. The other day Deepon’s mother was clinging to those things, crying. What can I say! I restrains my emotion, and just want to say, sensibilities should rise.


Abul Kasem Fazlul Haque
Professor, University of Dhaka