Another secular activist killed

It has been more than forty-eight hours since Nazim Samad was brutally killed by unknown assailants on the streets of old Dhaka; the killers remain at large. Nazim is the eighth activist to be targeted since Rajib Haider was hacked to death on 15 February, 2013. Both Rajib and Nazim were active members of the GanoJagorn Mancha. The telltale mode of this attack points to the work of a particular group which is presumed to be behind most of these killings since 2013.    

It is clear that the extremists are continuing with their plan to eliminate anyone who, according to them, is critical of their way of thinking. In fact one of these groups, calling itself "Defender of Islam" had, in 2013, submitted to the government a hit list of 84 Bangladeshi intellectuals, activists and bloggers. It has been neither identified nor neutralised. 

One of the reasons we think why the violent radicals continue to succeed in their nefarious plan is the impunity they seem to enjoy. Except for the case of Rajib, whose trial has resulted in conviction of the killers, none of the several suspects who have been nabbed in this matter, has been brought to the court as yet. Most of the cases are apparently floundering at the investigation stage. One would have expected the security agencies to have culled enough intelligence in the last three years from those arrested, to neutralise the group.

While we commend the security agencies to have prevented large-scale attacks by extremists so far, these individual killings are being done to test our determination and readiness. It is about time we demonstrated serious resolve and sincerity to combat the extremists on all fronts.