Sagar Biswas :
At least 30 intellectuals and secular bloggers so far have gotten death threat through SMS [short message service] or email in the last eight months, but the law enforcement agencies are yet to trace the identity of threateners due to lack of professional expertise and technical knowhow.
Although the Home Minister Asaduzzamn Khan Kamal has said the victims are already assured of adequate security measures for their protection, the sociologist have differed with the idea saying that only law would not help, rather it needs social resistance to stop the threteners.
The sociologists in contrary have also put emphasis on ‘responsibility and activeness’ of the law enforcing agencies to deal with the burning issue.
“It’s a big crime to give death threat to anyone. I think, the intelligence agencies must be active more to unveil the identity of threteners who issued death thret to the country’s intellectuals,” former Law Minister Barrister Shafiq Ahmed said. In fact, the ‘death threat issue’ came to the light when the Dhaka University authorities received a letter on May 21 where 15 eminent teachers and intellectuals, whom are known as progressive personalities in line with Liberation War spirit, got life threat from Ansarullah Bangla Team.
After getting the threat, the DU authorities filed a General Diary with Shahbagh Police Station. Apart from police, different intelligence agencies, including Detective and Criminal Intelligence Division, conducted investigation into the incident. But none was traced till the date.
Not only that, the Home Minister himself and six other eminent persons also got same type of threat on June 2. Apart from Asaduzzaman Khan, the letter gave death threats to former UGC chairman AK Azad Chowdhury, DU proctor Amjad Ali, Abu Md Delwar Hossain, a professor of history department, Md Akhtaruzzaman, dean of arts faculty of DU, actress Shomi Kaiser and Abu Musa Zakaria.
The law enforcement agencies launched a full-scale investigation to find out the ‘threteners’ of the victims, particularly of the home boss. Interestingly, all went in vain again and none was caught or traced as the detectives failed to ascertain the identity of threteners.
Another radical group, Ittehadul Mujahideen, on August 12 sent a list of 19 high profile personalities threatening to kill them. The victims were included- Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, former Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali, Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta, sculptor Ferdousi Priyabhashini and Professor Jafar Iqbal. The result was same. None was traced till the date in this connection.
In this backdrop, a publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan, who ran ‘Jagriti was hacked to death on October 31 hours after another publisher Ahmedur Rashid Tutul along with two others was attacked in the city’s Lalmatia.
And issuing of threat letters continues. About five publishers and writers received death threat through SMS or email in the last one week. In the latest incident, Professor emeritus of DU Anisuzzaman got threat on November 10. Getting the SMS [of threat], he demanded adequate security to all intellectual personalities.
“It is [issuing death threat] not an isolated incident. It needs public awareness to stop the threat letters. The civil society must come forward to resist the trouble makers,” eminent sociologist Professor A I Mahabub Uddin said.
Assuring exemplary punishment, the Home Minister Asaduzzamn Khan Kamal on Thursday said: “We will resist militants and terrorists at any cost. No matter what kind of conspiracy they have initiated. We will identify all threteners and bring back to book. We will also not spare them who are creating obstacle to the advancement of the government by committing such crimes.”
