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Arrest of activist Bangladesh is not a heaven for

atheist bloggers, independent
Dr Shahidul Alam leads journalists and right activists.
The arrest of activist,

to disparagement in Dr Shahidul Alam, led the
international media outlets to
condemn Bangladesh govern-
Bangladesh ment led by Sheikh Hasina,
writes nava thakuria

angladesh is in the interna-
tional media, but once again
for wrong reasons. Strong
voices and pressures being
B mounted over the Bangla
government in Dhaka from various
parts of the world to release a well-
known Bangladeshi photographer,
social & human rights activist Dr Sha-
hidul Alam, who was recently arrested
from his residence. Alam made critical
comments against the government and
the authority termed it as against the
nation. He was subsequently picked up
by a group of over 25 plain clothed po-
lice officers from his Dhanmondi resi-
dence on the night of August 5. Prior to
that, Alam participated in a talk show of
Al Jazeera, where he made serious com-
plain against the government.
He openly said that the AL leader
(Hasina) continued clinging to power
by brutal forces and she had already
lost the moral ground to continue as the
premier of Bangladesh. The sixty-plus
activist ended up asserting the Hasina
regime in Dhaka as authoritarian and it
would definitely lose a free & fair elec-
tion in the country.
The incident that pained Alam took onstrations by thousands of students ists sustained injuries in a single day.
place on July 29, when a speeding against the government. Finally the Alam was also on the spot and he was
privately operated bus ran over two Hasina regime started taking strong also targeted by the goons. Later in the
teenagers killing them and injuring actions against the demonstrators. In evening Alam joined in a television talk
few others in the Bangla capital city. a similar protest program on 5 August, show and criticized the authority for
A number of students initially as- the police forces along with few masked mismanaging the situation.
sembled there as a protest to the youths (attached to the AL) harassed the For two days, Alam’s anthropolo-
killings and they demanded a road agitating individuals using batons, tear gist wife Rahnuma Ahmed and other
safety guidelines for the country. But gas, rubber bullets etc. well-wishers found it difficult to get his
soon the protest transformed into an The masked youths with sticks in access. Later the high court ordered
anti-government actions. hands also targeted the scribes. Over the authority to check Alam’s health in
Dhaka witnessed widespread dem- twenty reporters and photo journal- the government medical college and

tehelka / 31 august 2018 52 www.tehelka.com