Scribes body condemns killings of bloggers in B'desh

GUWAHATI, May 19: Jourlists’ Forum Assam (JFA) has expressed serious concern over the killing of three bloggers in Bangladesh this year and urged the Sheikh Hasi government in Dhaka to probe into the matter authentically to book the culprits under the respective laws, stated a press release.

The media reports from southeast Asian tion reveal that the miscreants killed the third Bangladeshi blogger med Anta Bijoy Das (33) in Sylhet on May 12, 2015.  Prior to him, a US based atheist blogger Avijit Roy (42) and activist-writer  Washiqur Rahman (26) were hacked to death in the tiol capital of Bangladesh.

Unconfirmed source claimed that all three secular bloggers were assassited for their online articles advocating reforms in various Islamic laws by the ultraconservative Islamist elements, which are gaining grounds in the Muslim domited country. Though claimed as a secular democratic country, Bangladesh’s legal system is partially based on Islamic laws.

“The Bangladesh government must take urgent steps to ensure the security of critical bloggers in the country,” said a statement issued by New York based Committee to Protect Jourlists (CPJ). The CPJ also argued that the Hasi government should show its  commitment in curbing this violent trend by immediately finding Das’s killers and bringing them to justice.

Meanwhile, UNESCO Director-General Iri Bokova, in a statement from Paris, voiced grave concern about the safety of citizen jourlists in Bangladesh following the killing of bloggers.

“I condemn the murder of Anta Bijoy Das and call on the authorities to ensure that those responsible for this killing are brought to justice,” said Ms Bokova adding that the punishing such attacks is indispensable to maintain free public debate and free expression by media professiols and committed citizens alike.

The JFA, in a statement issued by its president Rupam Barua and secretary va Thakuria, while urging the Bangladesh authorities to take visible actions against the religious fatics in the poverty stricken populous country, also extends its moral support to the secular and democratic forces in their relentless fights against the intolerance shown to the free thinkers in that country.