Take clear, bold stance against extremism: CPJ
Dhaka: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged Bangladesh authorities to take a clear, bold stance against the rising tide of extremism and to bring the perpetrators behind recent attacks to justice.
‘We call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to take a clear, bold stance against the rising tide of extremism in the country and to bring the perpetrators behind these attacks to justice,’ reported UNB quoting CPJ Asia Program Research Associate Sumit Galhotra as saying.
The CPJ, the New York-based independent organization that promotes press freedom worldwide, condemned two separate attacks in Dhaka on Saturday that killed and injured, respectively, two publishers who had produced books by the murdered Bangladeshi-American publisher Avijit Roy. Two writers were also injured in one of the attacks.
‘The extreme violence against independent voices in Bangladesh has extended to those who give these voices a platform,’ said Sumit Galhotra.
Faisal Arefin Dipan, who published secular books, was stabbed to death at the offices of Jagriti Publications by a group of men who then fled.
An autopsy showed the publisher’s body had multiple stab wounds, according to reports. Dipan’s company published The Virus of Faith, by Roy, who received death threats after the book was published.
Roy, who was hacked to death in Dhaka in February, is one of four bloggers murdered in Bangladesh this year, according to CPJ research.
Dipan’s father, Abul Kashem Fazlul Haq, told journalists he suspected his son was targeted for publishing Roy’s books, news reports said.
Also on Saturday, unidentified assailants stormed the Dhaka offices of Shuddhashar publishing house and held two men at gunpoint while other assailants attacked the publisher, Ahmed Rahim Tutul, and the writers, Ranadeep Basu and Tareque Rahim, police and reports said. It was not clear from reports how many attackers were involved. The assailants locked the doors of the office behind them after exiting, police said.
Tutul and the writers are recovering in hospital, according to reports. Basu writes a blog and has published commentaries on Mukto-Mona (Free Mind), the blog founded by Roy, reports said. Shuddhashar had also published books written by Roy, according to reports.
Before the attack, Tutul received threatening messages via phone, the
CPJ said quoting reports.
The CPJ said Bangladesh administration claimed the violence in Bangladesh in recent weeks emanates from political opposition groups in the country.
Bangladesh ranked 12th on CPJ’s 2015 Impunity Index, which spotlights countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go unpunished.
A wave of violence against bloggers has landed Bangladesh back onto the index for the first time since 2011.