Chilling calls force dissident blogger to flee

Outspoken social media critic of Bangladeshi government goes into hiding in fear for his life

AN ACTIVIST claims he is hiding in fear for his life after being summoned by Bangladesh’s intelligence agency at the height of a violent stand-off between government and students in Dhaka.

Pinaki Bhattacharya, a prolific blogger and government critic whose Facebook page had 150,000 followers until it was closed down yesterday, told The Daily Telegraph he was afraid he may be harmed if he came out of hiding.

“Am I being targeted to be another victim of enforced disappearance? I am very scared for my life,” he said.

Mr Bhattacharya used social media to publicise his views on corruption, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings and in doing so received online abuse and death threats.

Earlier this month, he supported student demonstrations in the capital against the country’s unregulated transport sector.

The protest became a catalyst for an outpouring of anti-government anger and more than 100 people were injured as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, say witnesses. Pro-government activists were reported to have joined the attacks on demonstrators. The timing was not welcomed by the government, which faces looming elections.

Mr Bhattacharya was among those who highlighted the violence and he said that on Aug 5 he received two calls that sent “a chill” down his spine. They came from a man claiming to be a Major Farhan, director general of field intelligence (DGFI). “He said he had some issues to discuss… and he asked me to go to his office that evening.”

Mr Bhattacharya refused, recalling recent shocking audio clips of the death of Akramul Haque, 46, at the hands of Bangladesh’s elite Rapid Action Battalion.

The battalion claimed he was an armed drug dealer who died in a gunfight, but in a recording reportedly made on his daughter’s phone, Mr Haque was heard saying: “I am not involved,” before two gunshots rang out. According to The Guardian, other voices said: “Take out the bullets” and “Have his hands been untied?”.

The calls Mr Bhattacharya says he received occurred about the same time that Shahidul Alam, an acclaimed photographer, was arrested after criticising the government’s handling of the student protests. He remains in custody. Mr Bhattacharya went into hiding shortly afterwards.

His wife, Anjuman Ara Nimmi, said their house had been visited several times by intelligence officers looking for him. “We are very anxious about his safety,” she added.

Mr Bhattacharya said: “I fight in support of the rights of the Bangladeshi people. They are trying to silence my voice. I hope the international community will act to save me.”

Phil Robertson, of Human Rights Watch, said the DGFI’S involvement “demonstrates the extremes to which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government are prepared to go to shut down criticism of their record.”

A DGFI spokesman dismissed Mr Bhattacharya’s claims as “propaganda”.