People pay their last respects to writer-blogger Avijit Roy

People have paid their last respects to assassinated writer-blogger Avijit Roy.

The coffin containing his remains was taken from the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) mortuary around 10:45am on Sunday and placed on a platform erected at the base of Dhaka University’s Aparajeyo Bangla.
 
The slain writer’s friends, relatives, well-wishers, teachers and students of the university, and members of several organisations gathered there with flowers.
 
After paying their tributes to the founder of the Mukto-mona blog, a friend of his father, writer-journalist Shahriar Kabir, expressed indignation over the government’s “failure to ensure the safety of the Bangladesh-born US-based bioengineer”.
 

“We want to know from the government why Avijit’s security had not been arranged despite knowing that he had been facing threats,” he said.

Avijit, noted for his works against communalism, and his wife and fellow blogger Rafida Ahmed Bonya were hacked on the footpath next to the Suhrawardy Udyan, a few metres away from the tightly secured Amar Ekushey Book Fair and Shahbagh Police Station on Feb 26.

He died at the DMCH, while his badly injured wife is being treated at the Square Hospital.

Avijit was a regular columnist of bdnews24.com.
 
The United Nations has condemned the attack and demanded a fast trial of the killers, who are yet to be traced.
 
The United Sates has termed the incident as ‘a cowardly assault’ and offered assistance in the investigation.