Pictures of Dr. AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, University Professor and Cultural Personality (Including Sitar Player)
After murdering a number of free-thinkers, the Islamic barbarians of Bangladesh have now turned toward what by their standard could be called milder enemies of Islam. The murder spree on atheists, humanists, and rational human beings continue unabated in that country with soft support from the government. The month of April 2016 was particularly horrific.
They started off hacking to death Nazimuddin Samad, a student of Law at Jagannath University, on April 6th. Mr. Samad was a free-thinking blogger, and his blogs did include criticizing Islamic injustice and hatred.
On April 23, they hacked to death AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, a professor of English at Rajshahi University. Professor Siddiquee was a practicing Muslim, and he did not criticize Islam. So, what was his fault? He was involved in cultural activities, founded a music school and edited a literary magazine. His cultural activities were not deemed in conformity with Islam.
On April 25, they murdered a gay rights activist, Xulhaz Mannan, at his apartment in Dhaka, along with his friend, Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy. Mr. Mannan edited the country's first magazine for LGBT people, and Mr. Tonoy was an actor. Of course, homosexuality is one of the worst sins as per Islam, and is lawfully punishable by death in many Islamic countries.
And what is the government of Bangladesh doing about these heinous crimes? After every murder of secular humanists since that of Avijit Roy in February 2015, the government has been loud on how the victims might have hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslims, as opposed to calling the murder a capital crime and being serious about bringing the criminals to justice. The irresponsible talks of Islamic sentiments being hurt are being done by governmental leaders of all kinds, including the prime minister, the prime minister's special advisor, other cabinet ministers and high level police officials.
Of course, after the murder of Professor Siddiquee, Mr. Mannan and Mr. Tonoy, there was no talk of them hurting religious sentiments, as they did not criticize, nor did they renounce, Islam, the religion they inherited. However, after the murder of the LGBT activist, the home minister declared that defending the rights of homosexuals was not compatible with his country's society.
The latest casualty in the hands of the protectors of Islam in Bangladesh is Nikhil Chandra Joardar in the district of Tangail. Mr. Joardar was accused of making derogatory remarks against Islam and Mohammad some three years back, and for that he was imprisoned for three months. He was murdered on April 30 in his tailoring shop by hacking with machetes in the same pattern as that of the murder of the humanist bloggers.
Yes, making derogatory remarks against Islam and Mohammad not only invites the wrath of people that are recognized as Islamic criminals, it is also lawfully punishable in Bangladesh under a so-called secular government. On April 25, Krishnapada Moholi and Ashok Kumar Ghoshal were sentenced to six months in prison by the court of a sub-district executive officer in the district of Bagerhat. Mr. Ghoshal was a high school science teacher, and he was accused by some students of making derogatory remarks against Mohammad. Mr. Moholi was the headmaster of that school and was accused of supporting Mr. Ghoshal, for which he was roughed up by some students before being jailed by the sub-district court. The court did not punish the criminal students for taking law into their own hands.
It is obvious that the government of Bangladesh is for protecting Islam more than for bringing the Islamic criminals to justice. Not only that, the government is clearly for increasing Islamization of the country. The prime minister's plan is to build a 'model mosque' in every one of the 489 sub-districts of the country with state funds. Over the last 25 years the country has also seen an exponential growth in the number of Islamic schools, called madrasas. The madrasas are breeding grounds for extensively brainwashed Islamic fanatics and terrorists, while the mosques are milder at that.
It should be noted that while the government leaders talk about 'religious sentiments', they in reality mean 'Islamic sentiments'. For example, cow is like a demigod to the Hindu minority. But it is slaughtered publicly by Muslims all over the country. The major cities of the country become horribly unbearable from the stench of rotten blood and flesh of mostly cows in the open streets and alleys during the Islamic celebration of Eid-ul-Adha. Obviously, Hindu religious sentiments do not matter to the so-called religion-neutral government of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is clearly sliding into the darkness of Islam. Looking at the human rights records of the Islamic states of the world, including the ones with high per capita income, any sensible well-wisher of Bangladesh would be scared of the future of that country, in spite of the recent good pace of economic development.