Monday strike in DU to protest Avijit Roy murder

Pragatishil Chhatra Jote, a platform of Leftist student organisations, has called for a strike at Dhaka University for Monday to protest the brutal murder of writer-blogger Avijit Roy.

They demanded immediate arrest and trial of the killers at a press conference at the university’s Modhur Canteen on Saturday.

 

The organisations also announced plans for serial protest .

 

Chhatra Union President Hasan Tarek, also the Jote convener, told reporters that the killing of Avijit was an attack on free thinking. “It indicates none of us are safe.”

 

“If this murder goes unpunished, 40,000 students at this campus will remain insecured,” he added.

The alliance also demanded that the government should ban religion-based politics in Bangladesh.

Avijit and his wife blogger Rafida Ahmed Bonya were hacked by unidentified miscreants near Dhaka University’s TSC on Thursday night.

He died at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital soon after he was rushed there.

Bonya had lost a finger and was seriously injured. She is undergoing treatment at the Square Hospital in the capital.

Avijit was the founder of ‘Mukto-Mona’ blog and used to write against communalism and religious superstitions.

Fundamentalists had threatened him on several occasions for his writings.

His father Prof Ajay Roy, who teaches at Dhaka University, has blamed militants for the attack.

Hasan Tarek said DU teachers, students and staff will don black badges, create a human-chain and take out a procession in protest on Sunday.

 

The Jote also took out a procession on Saturday to push for their demands.

 

RU teachers condemn murder

 

A pro-1971 organisation of the Rajshahi University teachers has condemned Avijit Roy’s murder.

 

Pragatishil Shikkhok Samaj in a statement on Saturday demanded immediate arrest of the killers and their swift trial.

 

The statement, signed by the organisation’s Convener Prof Jahidul Islam, also urged everyone to stay united to resist radicals. 

 

“Those who attacked Avijit Roy are against free thinking and progress in this country... They are the communal forces that stand against the ideals of the Liberation War.”

 

The teachers alleged that the writer’s murder resembles the killings of RU teachers Mohammad Yunus and Shafiul Islam.