Bangladeshi blogger death: Recent murders carefully planned to destabilise nation, says Hasina

Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Wednesday that the recent spate of murders of secular bloggers and minorities had been carefully planned to destabilise the country and held main opposition BNP and its allies responsible for the killings. “The recent killings had been carefully planned. The targets were Imams, Hindu and Christian priests. The motive is to destabilise the country,” Hasina’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim quoted her as saying. Hasina was speaking at the 4th meeting of the Fast Track Project Monitoring Committee at her office wherein she said, those who had killed ordinary people for the sake of their campaigns are responsible for the recent “covert killings”, the bdnews24.com reported. [caption id=“attachment_2753056” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file photo of Sheikh Hasina with Narendra Modi. AFP[/caption] The killings of a liberal professor in Rajshahi, a gay- rights activist and his friend in Dhaka by machete-wielding assailants within three days follow similar attacks on secular thinkers, bloggers and members of religious minorities. “We do not want to see such events in Bangladesh,” she said. Hasina said a platform that “opposes development” was responsible, and added the culprits would be caught soon. Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has claimed responsibility for both the attacks. But the government has rejected the claims, saying home-grown terrorists were responsible, not global terror groups. Also, Hasina told the parliament that the government has already directed law enforcers to take stern actions against all sorts of militant, sabotaging and violent activities. Replying to a query, she said people who have connections with the previous militant, criminal or sabotaging activities are under surveillance.