Investigating Avijit murder

WITHIN less than a week of Avijit Roy's murder, we reiterate our call for a focused investigation such that Avjit's killers and purported masterminds of the extremist outfit Ansar Bangla 7, which claimed responsibility for the attack, can be brought to justice without delay. If we cannot ensure justice against the dark forces, our values of freedom, tolerance and secularism will suffer a major blow. 

The Rab arrest of Farabi Shafiur Rahman, who had instigated death threats against Avijit, is undoubtedly an important preliminary step in the investigation. However, a lot more needs to be done if we are to regain our confidence in our law enforcement agencies in safeguarding the people from acts of terror. 

The attack took place right in front of the Ekushey Book Fair, which supposedly had beefed- up security. Even if we were to assume that it was an organised attack, it bewilders us that the highly trained members could not prevent the killing or stop the killers from escaping the grounds. The fact that the writer had been threatened multiple times on various social media platforms also makes us wonder why no pre-emptive action was taken to monitor such menacing content on cyber space and protect him. Given that Avijit's father and esteemed intellectual, Dr. Ajoy Roy had himself informed all including the DIG and IG about the death threats to Avijit further highlights the inaction and apathy of our law enforcement agencies.

The government has to take a coordinated stance against extremist forces operating both on the ground and on cyberspace that are consistently threatening our cherished values of secularism and freedom of thought.