We condemn the killing

WE are shocked and appalled by yet another murder of a blogger, Oyasiqur Rahman, in broad daylight, barely a month after the savage murder of blogger and activist Avijit Roy. According to the two attackers who were caught by the public, the 27-year-old blogger, active mostly on Facebook, was killed for his "anti-Islamic" views. With the third such murder in two years, it seems that the targeting and slaughter of people with divergent views by religious extremists has become a dangerous trend, one that the government should tackle with due urgency, in which the whole society must actively participate. 

The two madrasa students, confessing to the crime, admitted that they were unfamiliar with the writings of Oyasiqur, and slaughtered him only upon the instruction of a person called Masum, who also recently graduated from a madrasa. Oyasiqur was vocal about religious bigotry, superstition and Islamist extremism. 

Although two of the three attackers were caught, thanks to the bravery of two transgendered persons, the onus now lies on the government to conduct a focused investigation to find the mastermind(s) of this murder. With the killers of Avijit still on the run, the government must decipher if, and to what extent, the deaths of the bloggers are linked and which extremist groups are instigating these methodical attacks. 

The government, it appears, is more concerned with containing the opposition through various means than in addressing the real threat and rising trend of religious and cyber terrorism in a systematic manner, lacking a coherent vision, strategy and political good-will to counter rising intolerance. 

We urge the government to give due attention to the rising threats of extremism, and protect our threatened national ethos of freedom of thought, secularism and tolerance.