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April 12, 2016

The killing only proves that I will never be able to return to my motherland: Exiled Bangla blogger (Report in The Times of India)

The Times of India

The killing only proves that I will never be able to return to my motherland: Exiled Bangla blogger
Priyanka Dasgupta | TNN | Apr 9, 2016, 02.26 PM IST

Shubhajit Bhowmik, who left behind his family and girlfriend in Dhaka after receiving death threats for his writing, and presently stays in Australia

KOLKATA: When law student Nazimuddin Samad (28) was hacked with machetes at a traffic junction late on Wednesday and then shot, it triggered global outrage. Samad was the sixth secular writer or publisher to be killed in Dhaka in the last 14 months. He was reported to have been an organizer of Ganajagran Manch, a secular campaigning group.

Exiled Bangladeshi bloggers have expressed disgust at the government's inability to punish the perpetrators of terror. Secular blogger Ananya Azad, who left Dhaka for an undisclosed location in Germany after death threats, said free thought is once again under attack in Bangladesh. "The government takes the side of fundamentalists by saying bloggers shouldn't write whereas Bangladesh is a free country. Yesterday, the home minister said we should be scrutinized to see whether Nazimuddin wrote anything objectionable about religion. It only means the government also supports such killings," Azad said.

Last year, Bonya Ahmed and her husband Avijit Roy were attacked by extremists in Dhaka. While Roy had died, Ahmed was seriously injured, receiving deep wounds to her head. Ahmed took to Facebook to vent her feelings after Samad was killed.

Her post stated: "Another sacrifice of human life in Bangladesh, Nazimuddin Samad was killed by unknown machete wielding assailants who claimed the murder in the name of Islamic terrorism. The change has to come from inside; the world can watch, sigh, sympathize, or even provide support, but the ultimate change has to come from inside. We have already seen that our so called 'secular' government will not side with us; they will either stay quiet or support the Islamic fundamentalists. They have been reluctant to find and try the killers of the previous bloggers and publishers.

"Starting from the killings of the secular writers, bloggers, activists, publishers, mass rape in our tribal areas, rape in protected army cantonment areas, to arrests of writers under ICT Act 57, the banning of bookstores and putting the writer/publisher in jail by the government - the government's actions are a far cry from its 'secular' constitution. It's completely unacceptable that you get hacked by the religious fanatics or arrested by the government of a democratic country when you express your views or simply ask questions about religion. The Bangladeshi people have to stand up against it; they need to build a movement to fight Islamic fundamentalism in the country and also pressurize the government to take action. The only way it will stop is if the people unite and protest vehemently against it, exactly the way they are doing today to protest the death of another online activist, Nazim. We will lose many more Avijits, Anantas and Nazims if we stop."

When TOI asked Ahmed how hope stays afloat despite so many killings, she said, "Because that's how our civilization progressed all through our human history. History teaches us that, evolution teaches us that."

Shubhajit Bhowmik, who left behind his family and girlfriend in Dhaka after receiving death threats for his writing, followed the news of Samad's killing. Now based in Australia, he said the murder reinforces his belief that he made "the right decision of coming out of Bangladesh somehow". Living in Australia as a student isn't easy for Bhowmik. In between his classes, he cleans carpets and washrooms to earn a living. Yet, he said: "If I were in Bangladesh, it could have been me this time. All the known atheists of Bangladesh are either dead or out of the country. So they are trying to kill all the possible living apostates. This killing only proves that I will never be able to return to my motherland. I don't know what I will do after my student visa expires in 2017."

Azad didn't know Samad personally. "He loved to criticize me. That's why I noticed him. He supported freedom of speech, women's rights and democracy. Unfortunately, our government refuses to react in these matters. They are afraid of Islamic fundamentalists. The government supports them because they don't want to lose out on a vote bank," he said.