Nothing can justify premediated and unconscionable murder and nobody has the license to kill anyone just for expression of his/her opinion. After all words don�t kill. There is such a thing as law in this republic and people can take it to the courts if they are aggrieved by someone�s comments

Nothing can justify premediated murders

According to an agency report carried in this newspaper the home minister Assaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said actions will be taken under the country’s existing laws against those who hurt any religious belief through their writing in blogs or other media. His remarks came just days after a freethinker and blogger was murdered allegedly by extremists. And this was the fifth time in the last couple of years and fourth this year alone when a blogger was murdered just for expressing his free thoughts.
The modus operandi of all these murders was incredibly similar. All the victims got death threats. The police which works under the minister have miserably failed to take action against the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. In fact so lackadaisical has been the attitude of the cops that some people are starting to believe–and we hope that is not the case– that they are reluctant to take any initiatives. Media reports have revealed that when the police were approached by some of the bloggers for help, the latter in most cases were uncooperative. One cop even gave the latest murder victim the unsolicited advice to leave the country.
Amidst this unfortunate scenario there are reasons to believe that the home minister’s comment may be interpreted by the fundamentalists as almost tacit approval of their brutality. This will only embolden these vicious animals in their endeavour to wipe out freethinking in this country. Interestingly the minister’s remarks come soon after the IGP Shahidul Haque’s highly controversial statement urging the bloggers not to cross the line. We are yet to see any minister or high official condemning the attackers so strongly. And while what the minister was stating the obvious, it is also true that one of the basic feature of a civilised society is the right to freedom of expression.
Well, frankly speaking, if any line has been crossed it was by the police–the line of failure. This was aptly pointed out by the seasoned Awami League politician Suranjit Sengupta. Every sane person in the country has the same query as the veteran politician “There is nothing impossible for our law enforcers if they intend it. Why don’t they arrest the killers?”
We believe that those holding responsible positions must be responsible in their actions and words. When people are killed in streets in broad daylight or even inside their homes – the home ministry in general and the police in particular must show visible actions against the murderers. Nothing can justify murder and nobody has the license to kill anyone just for his/her expression of opinions. After all words don’t kill. There is such a thing as law in this republic and people can take it to the courts if they are aggrieved by someone’s comments. We hope that good sense will prevail and Niladri will be the last victim of extremist outfits.

Nothing can justify premediated and unconscionable murder and nobody has the license to kill anyone just for expression of his/her opinion. After all words don�t kill. There is such a thing as law in this republic and people can take it to the courts if they are aggrieved by someone�s comments

Nothing can justify premediated murders

According to an agency report carried in this newspaper the home minister Assaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said actions will be taken under the countrys existing laws against those who hurt any religious belief through their writing in blogs or other media. His remarks came just days after a freethinker and blogger was murdered allegedly by extremists. And this was the fifth time in the last couple of years and fourth this year alone when a blogger was murdered just for expressing his free thoughts. The modus operandi of all these murders was incredibly similar. All the victims got death threats. The police which works under the minister have miserably failed to take action against the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. In fact so lackadaisical has been the attitude of the cops that some people are starting to believeand we hope that is not the case that they are reluctant to take any initiatives. Media reports have revealed that when the police were approached by some of the bloggers for help, the latter in most cases were uncooperative. One cop even gave the latest murder victim the unsolicited advice to leave the country. Amidst this unfortunate scenario there are reasons to believe that the home ministers comment may be interpreted by the fundamentalists as almost tacit approval of their brutality. This will only embolden these vicious animals in their endeavour to wipe out freethinking in this country. Interestingly the ministers remarks come soon after the IGP Shahidul Haques highly controversial statement urging the bloggers not to cross the line. We are yet to see any minister or high official condemning the attackers so strongly. And while what the minister was stating the obvious, it is also true that one of the basic feature of a civilised society is the right to freedom of expression. Well, frankly speaking, if any line has been crossed it was by the policethe line of failure. This was aptly pointed out by the seasoned Awami League politician Suranjit Sengupta. Every sane person in the country has the same query as the veteran politician There is nothing impossible for our law enforcers if they intend it. Why dont they arrest the killers? We believe that those holding responsible positions must be responsible in their actions and words. When people are killed in streets in broad daylight or even inside their homes the home ministry in general and the police in particular must show visible actions against the murderers. Nothing can justify murder and nobody has the license to kill anyone just for his/her expression of opinions. After all words dont kill. There is such a thing as law in this republic and people can take it to the courts if they are aggrieved by someones comments. We hope that good sense will prevail and Niladri will be the last victim of extremist outfits.