Nobody can disagree that showing hatred against Islam is a violation of universal religious right of others and cannot be justified by calling himself a free thinker.
Deriding any religion is leftist politics under godless system of socialism. In communist ideology no free thinking is tolerated to discuss democracy or religion. So if anybody wants to preach leftist politics, he is free do so in clear terms. Free thinking should not be an act of deception or thoughtless madness.
But the fundamental leftists in a democracy use the slogan of free thinking to provoke religious extremism to create violence and then defend authoritarianism. The end game is to destroy democracy. We cannot allow fomenting religious extremism knowing how dangerous its ramifications could be.
The extreme leftists are extremists like religious extremists. Both are equally dangerous for social peace and harmony. Like the religious extremists the leftist extremists are extremely intolerant. None of them believes in democracy. Leftists massacred thousands of men, women and children in Indonesia during Sukarno rule before they could be got rid of.
In Bangladesh the bloggers who have been found spreading spite against Islam in one form or the other are all leftist non-believers. No Islamist attacked anyone for being non-believer. No blogger including Dr Zafar criticised any other religion but Islam. No sensible or decent person will deride religion of others unless he is politically motivated.
Anybody knows how sensitive it is to criticise other people’s faith in God, especially when it comes from political motive.
What we have said here is not particularly in respect of Dr Zafar Iqbal. We have explained disagreement about free thinkers like him who are not free thinkers but believers in the politics of godless socialism.
We feel extremely unhappy that a professor of his eminence got embroiled with Student League boys, although he is also an active supporter of the government. He criticised them himself. The situation was so heated that his wife was also not spared from being dishonoured.
Thus the situation at the Sylhet Shahjalal University was highly antagonistic and nobody could be sure who in fact attacked Dr Zafar Iqbal. But the immediate government reaction was that a religious extremist group was behind it. Now it is confirmed that the assailant comes from an Awami League family. The police being in a helpless position to say he is a self-radicalised religious extremist.
Every sphere of the government has been so politicised that the people do not have faith in any government institution. So police investigation will not convince anybody about the truth of assailant. What a tormented climate we have created for ourselves to live in.
Dr Zafar Iqbal being an academic he should not have made himself unsafe for toxic anti-Islamic remarks politically under the illusion of free thinking calling for heavy police protection. He should not have been openly a supporter of any political party. He could have then remained above political controversy asking the students not to engage in party politics. He could have been an inspiring example to the students. His leftist politics makes him loose his balance. It was not an honour for a university teacher to need the protection of three police officers.
Dr Zafar Iqbal must be regretting now in hospital bed for the unhealthy academic atmosphere created by politically motivated sections of teachers and students including himself.
We do not dare to advise Dr Zafar Iqbal but we expect he will not be a free thinker but a constructive thinker as a competent academic. He has many talents for which many Islamists also respect him.
By all means let him remain a non-believer if he so chooses but as an intellectual he must have the integrity to tolerate the religious rights of others. Free thinking at the cost of the rights of others is not a right but a personal choice filled with personal risks.
