Al Ittihad claims top spot in Saudi Pro League after victory over Al Fateh    Saudi delegation participates in the 7th U20 Deans Summit in Brazil    Al-Jubeir discusses with EU officials enhancing bilateral cooperation    GASTAT: Non-oil exports up 22.8% in September 2024    Saudi Arabia to host 28th Annual World Investment Conference in Riyadh    Saudi Arabia allows licensed flour milling companies to export flour    Saudi Arabia joins international partnership initiative to boost hydrogen economy    Israeli drones kill two paramedics, injure four in southern Lebanon    Trump's new attorney general nominee sparks concerns over DOJ independence    Australia drops proposed laws to regulate social media misinformation    Six Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes on central Gaza    Riyadh Emir inaugurates International Conference on Conjoined Twins in Riyadh    Al Khaleej stuns Al Hilal with 3-2 victory, ending 57-match unbeaten run    SFDA move to impose travel ban on workers of food outlets in the event of food poisoning    Al Okhdood halts Al Shabab's winning streak with a 1-1 draw in Saudi Pro League    Saudi musical marvels takes center stage in Tokyo's iconic opera hall    Al Khaleej qualifies for Asian Men's Club League Handball Championship final    Katy Perry v Katie Perry: Singer wins right to use name in Australia    Sitting too much linked to heart disease –– even if you work out    Denmark's Victoria Kjær Theilvig wins Miss Universe 2024    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Bangladesh secular writers fearful after 2nd blogger slain
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 05 - 04 - 2015

DHAKA — The writer, a thin young man who fears the growing interweaving of religion and politics in Bangladesh, knows his turn could come next. What happened earlier this week, when the second secularist blogger in less than a month was hacked to death in the streets of the capital, made it clear he wasn't safe.
“Anytime they can hit me or my like-minded friends,” said Ananya Azad, a 25-year-old blogger who has written pieces that were critical of Islamic fundamentalism and politics driven by religion. He quit his job as a newspaper columnist and stopped writing blogs in recent months after receiving numerous threats, but still posts critical comments on Facebook.
Ananya says he's thinking about fleeing the country and spends much of his time indoors these days.
“They don't hesitate to kill in the name of their beliefs,” he said. “I'm an easy target for the fanatics.”
Bangladesh, a majority Muslim nation long seen as insulated from the most fervent strains of militant Islam, has seen that reputation crack amid an increasingly bloody divide between secular bloggers and conservative militant groups.
In many ways, the divide is clear: the bloggers want authorities to ban religion-based politics while the Islamists are pressing for blasphemy laws so that nobody can undermine Islam's holy book, the prophet or basic pillars of being a Muslim.
In a crowded nation of 160 million, whose recent political history has been dominated by a bitter power struggle that regularly spills into street violence, many fear that religion could further destabilize the situation.
Islam is Bangladesh's state religion but the country is governed by secular laws based on British common law. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly said she will not give in to religious extremism.
Yet over the last decade or so, extreme interpretations of Islam have steadily gained ground here.
“These attacks are not stray incidents,” said Abdur Rashid, a retired army general and expert on national security. “They are well planned and strings are being pulled in some quarters eager to control the future of Bangladesh.”
He believes Islamist political parties are orchestrating the attacks to further polarize country and expand their influence.
“Some political parties, which have a distant desire to come to power in Bangladesh, are either directly or indirectly connected with this radicalization process,” he said.
The past weeks have seen a spike in radical attacks.
First, a prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger and writer, Avijit Roy, was hacked to death by unidentified attackers in late February when he was walking with his wife. Roy bled to death while his wife, also a blogger, was critically injured.
Roy was an atheist who promoted secularism through his blog, books and newspaper articles. A previously unknown Muslim militant group, Ansar Bangla 7, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Then, on Monday, 27-year-old Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, was attacked in daylight as he left his house. Unlike Roy, who had been on the radar of radical Islamists and had regularly received death threats, Babu was a low-profile online activist.
Still, his Facebook page includes a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad from the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, and he had openly questioned writings in the Quran.
Two of the three men believed to have attacked Babu were caught by passers-by and handed over to the police. A third man fled the scene. The two captured men are students at local madrasas. They told police they neither knew Babu nor were familiar with his writings.
Instead, they said a fourth man had showed them Babu's photographs and some of his writings, and then asked them to kill him. They followed the instructions, they said, because they believed it was their duty as Muslims, according to police.
Islamist political parties have denied any involvement in the killings.
Writing has never been a particularly safe profession here. Ananya's father was attacked a decade ago for his writings against Muslim extremism, and journalists are often targeted by political thugs.
Bangladesh ranks 146 out of 180 countries on the press freedom index of the group Reporters Without Borders.
The attacks come as Bangladesh grapples with an ongoing political standoff over last year's contentious elections boycotted by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies. The opposition has staged violent protests and shut down roads with an often-bloody transportation strike.
For more than a decade, Bangladeshi politics have been dominated by battles for power between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her archrival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who heads the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
Media reports say radical Muslim groups have compiled lists of bloggers and writers they view as anti-Islam.
Ananya, who regularly meets with others concerned about the rise of fundamentalism, says his name is on some of those lists.
“Fundamentalists glorify Allah but they think nothing about lying. When I try to stand for truth they want to kill me,” he said on a March 12 Facebook post.
Many of those under threat, including Ananya, demand the banning of Jamaat-e-Islaami, a key ally of the Nationalist Party. Ananya is also among those who called for a senior Jamaa-e-Islaami leader to be executed for his role in war crimes during Bangladesh's bloody war of independence in 1971.
“I can't rely on the system for my protection,” Ananya said. “We are frustrated, my friends don't see a liberal Bangladesh where free thought will be encouraged and protected.” — AP


Clic here to read the story from its source.