Climate of fear after Islamist slaying

DAYS after his colleague was butchered by Islamist extremists at their university in Bangladesh, Mahbub Alam answered a call from a mystery number that made his blood run cold.

“The person on the other side of the line said to me: ‘Your life has come to an end. You’ve gone too far. Wait and see what happens to you’,” said Alam, a professor of public administration at Rajshahi University.

“I’ve never been connected to any type of activity except teaching. I’ve no idea what I’ve done to receive such a threat.”

Normally a hive of activity, the university campus has been largely deserted since English professor Rezaul Karim Siddique was hacked to death late last month.

His attackers ambushed the 58- year-old from behind before flaying him with machetes in broad daylight.

It was the latest in a string of gruesome murders carried out by Islamist extremists in the last three years, with other victims including secular bloggers and members of the mainly Muslim country’s religious minorities.

But professors teaching at Rajshahi in northwestern Bangladesh, which has a reputation as one of the country’s most liberal universities, have been a target of extremists for more than a decade. Four have been killed since 2004 while more than 50 teachers say they have received threats from Islamist extremists.

After Siddique’s murder, teachers went on an unofficial strike which prompted most of the university’s 33 000 students to head home.

When an AFP correspondent visited the 300ha campus last week, the lecture halls were empty and the only significant gathering was at a rally attended by teachers and students to protest Siddique’s slaughter.

Much of the anger was directed at the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina which has been accused of showing little sympathy towards the victims and doing little to improve security.

After Siddique’s killing, it emerged a hit-list with the names of 10 people – including the university’s vice-chancellor – had been distributed on a leaflet in the nearby town of Natore.

The leaflet bore the name of an obscure group called the Islami Liberation Front which said its objective was to establish an Islamic caliphate by toppling what it called the “rep government. — AFP