Niloy Chatterjee Neel is the latest victim of a vicious campaign against secular bloggers in Bangladesh. His murder by machete-wielding men at his house in Dhaka underscores the grave dangers that writers critical of extremism and religious intolerance face in Bangladesh. It also raises questions about the commitment and capability of the Bangladesh government in protecting its citizens from organised violence. Neel is the fourth blogger to be killed this year, and Ansar al-Islam, the Bangladesh branch of al-Qaeda that has claimed responsibility for it, has held out a direct warning to other secular writers. On the face of it, it is an attempt to kill free speech. But the problem runs deeper. The Muslim-majority nation is going through a volatile phase. Ever since the Awami League government opened the controversial war trial to indict those who committed serious crimes during the liberation war, the country has been on edge. The main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has joined hands with the Jamaat-e-Islami to unleash violent protests against the government, particularly against the war trial in which several Jamaat leaders have been indicted. The government has not heeded to the protests, but the street violence continues. The killing of the bloggers comes against this background.
The bloggers were supporters of the war crimes trial, and instrumental in shaping public opinion in cyber space against communalism, which obviously brought the Islamists’ wrath upon them. They were also soft targets compared to those involved in the trial, who get government security. By means of the murders the Islamists are sending a message to the government and the public that anyone who criticises them would face a similar fate. Yet, the government’s response in the face of the threat has been far from satisfactory. The murdered bloggers had received anonymous threats. Civil society groups say the Islamists have prepared a hit list of writers critical of them and are pursuing them one by one. If reports that Neel had sought police protection but the authorities instead asked him to leave the country are true, that would show the government’s callous approach on a serious issue. It should realise that these incidents have the potential to fracture the country further. The killers should be stopped, and brought to justice, and credible steps taken to ensure the safety of citizens, particularly the secular bloggers. Failing to do that would only send a message to the assailants that the authorities tend to tolerate such attacks.
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