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Published : 24 Nov 2025, 01:41 AM
As many as 258 prominent citizens have condemned the arrest of Baul, or mystic, singer Abul Sarkar in Manikganj's Saturia and demanded his immediate release.
The call was made in a joint statement signed by Prof Khaliquzzaman Elias on Sunday.
The signatories strongly criticised the recent attacks, mob violence, vandalism and arrests occurring in parts of Bangladesh surrounding the so-called charge of "blasphemy”.
In the statement, they asserted that a specific group appears to have emerged as the “sole agent” of the Islam and has launched a countrywide “purification campaign”. They suggest this group's goal is the extermination of people with dissenting views and practices, which is demonstrated by the destruction of over two hundred shrines, declaring countless individuals as apostates, infidels, or blasphemers, exhuming and burning bodies, grabbing bauls and fakirs on the streets and forcibly cutting their hair, harassing women over their movement and attire, and disrupting events like music, dance, and drama performances, and even sports and fairs.
They alleged that this extremist group is using pretexts to perpetrate violence, constantly weaponising the accusation of “'religious offence” against the everyday lives, cultural practices, freedom of expression, as well as religious and spiritual practices of ordinary people.
The core spirit of the July Uprising was the establishment of an inclusive democratic state that was reflected in the interim government’s declaration, the statement read.
The signatories, however, observed that individuals tasked with maintaining law and order are failing to take any effective measures to stop the mob violence and instead have been complicit through silence from the beginning. They are even attempting to downplay the incidents by calling them “pressure group” activity, and are arresting the victims or those who were attacked with fabricated cases.
The citizens cited the recent arrest of Baul artiste Abul Sarkar as the latest example of this alarming situation.
The statement warned the state is being pushed toward an undemocratic and intolerant path, noting a tendency to appease religious extremism rather than suppress it, even a year and a half later.
They said if this continues, the defeated fascist forces will be easily resurrected, and conspirators will have the opportunity to portray Bangladesh as a potential extremist state on the international stage. They identified this situation as a terrible threat to the future of the country.
The signatories include distinguished individuals from various fields, such as Prof Anu Muhammad, Prof Salimullah Khan, Prof Azfar Hussain, Prof Samina Lutfa, lawyers Jyotirmoy Barua and Miru Khan, and writers Pavel Partha, Rakhal Raha, and Prof Abdullah-AL-Mamun.
