Family voices dismay over probe pace

1 yr since Avijit murder, yet no charges pressed

Staff Correspondent

A year has gone by since the murder of writer-blogger Avijit Roy near Amar Ekushey Book Fair, but police are yet to press charges despite making repeated claims they have identified several people involved.
Expressing dismay at the pace of investigation, Avijit's father Ajoy Roy yesterday told The Daily Star that he could see no visible progress in the case.
“Neither do I nor my family members have any reason to feel satisfied.”
He fears that the media focus and law enforcers' interest in the case would fizzle out before the criminals are caught and tried.
On the eve of Avijit's first death anniversary yesterday, Additional Commissioner Monirul Islam of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) told journalists that police have identified three suspects who were at the crime scene during the murder.
Terming the murder well-planned, he said the investigation was taking time as those who committed the gruesome killing are “smart and educated”.
He added that police have obtained evidence of the involvement of six to seven identified people who abetted the murder by staying at the book fair and Bangla Academy premises at the time.
“They all are members of Ansarullah Bangla Team,” he claimed.
Ajoy, however, said, “If the criminals are really identified, they can be tried in absentia.”
The bereaved father also voiced his doubt whether the criminals, claimed to have been identified by the detectives, were still in the country.
On July 6 last year, Monirul Islam told journalists that detectives knew the faces and nicknames of seven members who belong to the banned Islamist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team.
He had also claimed that the people involved were all educated.
Talking to journalists at the DMP Media Centre yesterday, he said DNA evidence from the crime scene was tested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) but police were yet to receive the reports.
He said the reports would let them know who were present at the crime scene.
Monirul said two of the eight arrestees -- Shafiur Rahman Farabi and Mannan Rahi -- directly instigated the murder.
“The rest are suspects. A few of them might have been present at the crime scene,” he said.
Unidentified assailants killed Avijit Roy and badly wounded his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya on Dhaka University campus after the couple came out of the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela on February 26 last year.
The incident happened around 8:45pm on the pavement along Suhrawardy Udyan near TSC.
Two attackers hit Avijit, 42, with machetes from behind, making gaping holes in his head. They hacked his wife when she tried to save him. Bonya, 40, suffered injuries in the head and lost a finger.
A day after the murder, US Department of State Spokesperson Jen Psaki in a statement said Washington was ready to assist the investigation if Bangladesh wanted help.
On March 5, a four-member FBI team arrived in Dhaka to assist the probe.
The Detective Branch of police on March 11 last year handed over the DNA evidence to the FBI. Earlier, a Dhaka court ordered the detectives to get a DNA test done by the US investigation agency.

Migrant crisis:

Migrant Offshore Aid Station to begin mission in Andaman Sea

File Photo of Rohingya and other survivors of dangerous boat voyages from Burma and Bangladesh during the migrant crisis in 2015.

Star Online Report

Global search and rescue charity, Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), will begin a new mission in the Andaman Sea and adjacent areas on March 3 to track, monitor and, if needed, provide search and rescue of refugees or migrants.
The M.Y. Phoenix and its crew will coordinate with local coast guards, navies, local NGOs, experts and the media to track, monitor and, if needed, provide search and rescue in coordination with the responsible authorities.
It will use long-distance drones to measure movements of ships that may be transporting refugees or migrants, said a MOAS statement today.
In meetings between MOAS principals and various local and national government authorities, it was agreed that preventing loss of life at sea was a high priority.
“The task of the M.Y. Phoenix will be to observe and analyse irregular movements at sea with the goal of supporting local stakeholders in providing an enhanced life-saving response.
“Our aim is to generate a better understanding of the movements by the refugees and migrants and be ready to assist in cases where there is an imminent threat to loss of life,” said MOAS founder Christopher Catrambone.
The move comes following last year’s shocking discoveries of some 200 remains of human bodies – believed to be of Rohingyas of Myanmar and migrants of Bangladesh – from the hilly jungles of Thai-Malaysian borders in May and June.
Several thousand refugees and migrants had been on board in the sea, and the neighbouring countries – Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia – first denied to accept those. Later, however, they accepted amid global pressures.
Some 370 people – Rohingya of Myanmar and Bangladeshis -- are believed to have died in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea last year, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
In 2015, an estimated 33,600 refugees and migrants of various nationalities across the region had taken to smugglers' boats, including 32,600 in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, where the bulk of the passengers had been Rohingya and Bangladeshi, it said.
Nearly 170,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshis are estimated to have made the dangerous journey from the Bay of Bengal since 2012.
MOAS will sail out in early March and remain at sea for a minimum of four weeks. At the end of this period MOAS will review its findings and funding provisions with stakeholders, the statement said.
MOAS is a registered NGO based in Malta founded by American entrepreneur Christopher Catrambone and his Italian wife Regina. Since late 2014, MOAS has used the M.Y. Phoenix to locate and rescue almost 13,000 people from the Mediterranean Sea.

The Forgotten Languages of Bangladesh

Cover Story

Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan

Illustration: Manan Morshed
Every year we celebrate International Mother Language Day with much pomp and ceremony. However, in the very heart of Bangladesh, the mother languages of the indigenous communities have become victims of politico-cultural authoritarianism. With the increasing cultural dominance and lack of preservation effort, many of these rich languages are on the edge of total obliteration. This week, the Star Weekend goes on a bicycle ride with Rubayet Hossain, a cyclist who rides in and through the districts of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the home of numerous indigenous communities, to learn about how these rich languages and cultures are being wiped out.
To know more, check out this week's spotlight