Shahbagh Blogger Rajib's Murder
Countrywide mourning turns into protests
The country erupted in protest yesterday after Ahmed Rajib Haidar, a blogger and activist of Shahbagh movement, was found stabbed dead near his Palash Nagar residence in the capital's Mirpur area on Friday night.
A correspondent from Gazipur reports: Agitating locals barricaded the Dhaka-Kishoreganj-Kapasia Bazar crossing and Awami League's Gazipur unit organised a procession and rally at Kapasia Bus Stand protesting the murder and demanding immediate arrest and trial of the killers.
Communist Party of Bangladesh's Gazipur committee also condemned the killing.
Local sources said Rajib, hailing from Syedpur village in Torgaon union of Kapasia upazila, is an architect, passing SSC from Government Laboratory High School, Dhaka in 1996 and HSC from Kapasia Degree College in 1998.
His father Nazimuddin is a noted physician and his mother Nargis Haidar is the women affairs secretary of AL's Kapasia unit.
Our Rajshahi University correspondent adds: Demonstrators on the 10th day of a sit-in, under the “RU Gonomancha†banner, demanding death penalty for war criminals, threatened to go for tougher agitation if Rajib's killers were not arrested in 24 hours.
Accusing Jaamat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir men of carrying out the killing, they urged the government to immediately ban the two. “Finding no other alternative, Jamaat-Shibir might start genocides like that of 1971,†they said.
Our Khulna correspondent reports: Over 1,000 people, under the “Nirdoliyo Gonomancha†banner, brought out a mourning procession in Khulna city's KDA Avenue area on the 11th day of their demonstrations at Shibbari intersection.
The Awami League-led 14-party alliance brought out another procession from Rupsha area around 4:30pm protesting the killing and demanding the capital punishment and the ban.
The Shibbari demonstrators also demanded a ban on pro-Jamaat blog Sonarbangla which was spreading propaganda against Rajib over the last few days.
Our Chittagong correspondent reports: Bloggers of Chittagong city, under the “Chetona-71†banner, held a protest rally and formed a human chain at Chittagong Press Club premises demanding capital punishment for the killers and the ban.
Hundreds of city dwellers under the “Gono Jagoran Mancha†banner observed a one minute's silence in Rajib's memory and held a gayebana janaza (funeral) in the city's Jamal Khan area.
They said Rajib was murdered for writing against Jamaat and its wings in his blog under the nickname of “Thaba Babaâ€.
The killing proves that Shibir-Jamaat men do not believe in free thinking and want to push the country towards a civil war like that in Afghanistan, said Debobroto Das, an organiser of the rally.
Our Rajshahi correspondent adds: Demonstrators at “Ekattur Mancha†in Rajshahi city's Alupotty also wore black badges and held another gayebana janaza while demanding the death penalty.
Blaming Jaamat-Shibir cadres for the killing and terming the two “political parties of killersâ€, they demanded the ban and arrest of the killers.
They said Jamaat-Shibir activists who carry out such killings were protected at hospitals, clinics and other institutions owned by Jamaat-Shibir men.
Our Sust correspondent reports: Students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (Sust) blocked Sylhet-Sunamganj Highway for around an hour from noon protesting the killing.
Our Sylhet correspondent reports: “Blogger Association Shahbagh Square.com†formed a human chain at Traffic Point area of Sunamganj district town around 11:30am and afterwards brought out a procession protesting the killing.
Agitating locals also broke window glasses of the Sunamganj branch of Islami Bank, allegedly a pro-Jamaat institution.
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