STOP the madness

Nother blogger was hacked to death in Dhaka two weeks ago, and the common thread running through these gruesome murders is that all of them have been allegedly killed for their "liberal" views. It may be too early to say, but putting experience above hope gives us the second common thread: Most of these murder mysteries aren't likely to be solved and many of the murderers might not be identified or apprehended. We're watching an escalating showdown between free-thinking minds and free-killing hands.

It can be said without sitting on the fence that both sides of this ugly hostility are fundamentally wrong. One side strongly believes it can think whatever it likes and write about it as well. The other side is terribly misguided in its thirst for blood; they're resorting to killing as the ultimate way to exact revenge. This year four times as many bloggers have been killed compared to 2013, which could mean that unbridled thoughts and unrestrained actions are provoking each other like pouring kerosene on a fire. 

The real concern is the age of the people involved on both sides of this simmering war. Three of the five bloggers were between late 20s and early 30s, two being in their early 40s. Most of the assailants also appear to be in the same age brackets, if not younger, which is all the more reason why we should be worried. 

Because, this country is still coming through long-drawn historical conflict metamorphosed into a grueling political rift. We're yet to reconcile between the pro-liberation and anti-liberation forces forty-four years after independence. And it looks like the seed for a new discontent is being planted to keep us divided yet on another ground. 

While much of the first two divisions have been dominated by older people, the last one is entirely in the hands of the youth although it's possible their elders are pulling the strings from behind. It's an irony that many of them are still in their formative years and they are being irreverential to the religious sentiments of the preponderant majority of their countrymen. At the same time, young and fanatical minds are being driven by their primal passions to decisively deal with anybody whose views they differ with.

Joseph Conrad writes in Heart of Darkness, "The mind of men is capable of anything." Mind is where everything is happening in this festering fight. It's in their minds that the bloggers are mapping their thoughts and the killers are planning their strikes. It's in their minds that neither side is realizing that either side is acting with extreme spite.  

The Inspector General of Police has urged the bloggers not to "cross the line" meaning they shouldn't write blogs that may hurt religious feelings of others. Secular activists in the country have expressed their outrage after the police boss warned that bloggers may have to go to jail for writing provocative blogs. He also mentioned that an offender of religious belief may get the highest punishment of 14 years in jail, uttering in the same breath that killing someone for that offence wasn't acceptable.

The killers are definitely much more reprehensible because nobody has the right to take another life no matter what. At the same time, the bloggers must understand that freedom of expression doesn't give them the license to hurt anybody's feelings or insult anybody's religion.

A sensible mind always stands up for the freedom of expression so long as it's responsibly exercised. Prophets and messiahs suffered persecution because they dared going against established beliefs. Initially branded as heretics, they eventually proved they had preached in the name of God.  

The killers are pathetically mixed up in their minds. They're alarmingly oblivious that destroying human life is criminal offense, not God's work. They deserve utmost condemnation and the highest possible punishment. 

The writer's pen is mightier than the fighter's sword and the scholar's ink is holier than the martyr's blood. As ink is wasted and blood is spilled, W. B. Yeats comes knocking: "The best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity."

The writer is the Editor of weekly First News and an opinion writer for The Daily Star. 
Email: badrul151@yahoo.com