Bonya again questions Bangladesh government’s sincerity to investigate blogger husband Avijit’s murder

Slain writer-blogger Avijit Roy’s wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya has again questioned the government’s ‘sincerity’ to investigate the murder.

In an op-ed column published on bdnews24.com’s Bangla site on the Independence Day, she had said she was dismayed over the investigations that led to the arrest of only one suspect.

“I am not satisfied with the investigation. I am not surprised (at government’s ‘inaction’). This is what was supposed to happen,” she said in an interview with BBC Bangla on Friday.

Unidentified assailants hacked Bonya and Avijit, both US citizens of Bangladeshi origin, on Feb 26 evening near TSC intersection at Dhaka University.

Avijit died from profuse bleeding while Bonya lost a thumb.

Earlier, Avijit’s father Professor Ajay Roy had expressed disappointment over the murder investigation.

Secular writer-blogger Avijit and Bonya came to Dhaka in February to take part in the book fair.

Police arrested extremist blogger Farabi Shafiur Rahman, who had threatened to kill Avijit on social media. His direct link to the murder is yet to be found.

The FBI is helping police in Bangladesh in the investigation into the murder of the naturalised US citizen, but there is no lead yet.

“I don’t know how much sincere the Bangladesh government is. In my judgement, they know many things; they are supposed to know,” Bonya told the BBC Bangla.

 She said no one from Bangladesh government contacted her since she went to the US after the attack.

The FBI told her that they had ‘nothing much’ to do with the investigation in Bangladesh.

A month after the murder of Roy, online activist Oyasiqur Rahman Babu was killed in Dhaka’s Tejgaon. Two more months later, secular blogger Ananta Bijoy Das was killed in Sylhet.

All of them were hacked to death.

Al Qaeda in the Indian Sub-continent (AQIS) has claimed responsibility for the murders of Avijit and Das.

Detective Branch Sub-Inspector Fazlur Rahman, who is investigating the murder of Avijit, says he suspects that militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team is behind the murders.

He also suspects that this outfit has links with al Qaeda.

Bonya told BBC Bangla that she suspected an ‘international syndicate’ was involved in the murder of her husband.  

She also doubted whether government actually wanted to unearth the truth.