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| Shahbag protest (Image: Flickr User - Faisal Akram) |
By Farasha Bashir
Bangladesh is rapidly making its bed with Islamic fundamentalism.
On September 28, 2015, an Italian aid worker was killed by unknown assailants in the nation’s capital, Dhaka. The victim, identified as Cesare Tavella, was followed by three men before he was shot three times and left for dead. The attack prompted widespread shock across the city, partly because the incident occurred in an affluent neighborhood and partly because foreign nationals are rarely attacked in Bangladesh. Five days later, on October 3, a Japanese national, Kunio Hoshi, was shot dead three times in Rangpur, a remote district in northern Bangladesh. The Islamic State (ISIS), the radical Islamist militant group operating primarily in Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the murders.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was quick to refute reports of ISIS involvement, insisting that the group is not active in Bangladesh while simultaneously reaffirming the government’s commitment to cracking down on fundamental groups. Instead, the prime minister accused the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), the current opposition party, and its ally the Jamaat-e-Islami, of orchestrating and abetting the killings of two foreign nationals, claiming they were attempting to undermine the current government.
Read the full story at The Diplomat