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Bangladesh: Mob attacks stall displaying Taslima Nasreen’s book at book fair; author, Muhammad Yunus react
A mob attacked a book stall at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair in Dhaka, vandalising works by Taslima Nasreen. The interim government condemned the violence.
A mob attacked and vandalised a book stall at the ongoing Amar Ekushey Book Fair in Bangladesh’s Dhaka for publishing and putting up books written by Taslima Nasreen, a Bangladeshi writer, physicist and feminist who is living in exile in India.
The incident happened on Monday when a group of Madrasa students attacked and vandalised the stall for displaying a book written by Taslima Nasreen, reported news agency ANI.
Reacting to the incident, the chief advisor of Bangladesh’s interim government Muhammad Yunus said he condemns the mob attack, calling it a “contempt” for the “rights of Bangladeshi citizens and for the laws of our country.”
A statement released by his office reads, “The Chief Adviser strongly condemns the mob attack on a bookstall at Ekushey Book Fair. The attack shows contempt for both the rights of Bangladeshi citizens and for the laws of our country.”
“Such violence betrays the open-minded spirit of this great Bangladeshi cultural fixture, which commemorates the language martyrs who lost their lives on February 21, 1952 in defence of their mother tongue. Today, the Ekushey Boimela (Ekushey Book Fair) is a daily meeting place for our writers and readers,” it further added.
Muhammad Yunus has also ordered the police and the Bangla Academy to initiate a probe into the violent attack and “bring the culprits to book”. The interim government has also asked to beef up the security at the book fair to prevent any such mob attack in future.
"The Interim Government has ordered police and the Bangla Academy to investigate the incident and bring the culprits to book. Police have been ordered to step up security in the fair and make sure no untoward incidents take place in this very important space. The government has also ordered the concerned security agencies to take strong measures to stop any incidents of mob violence in the country," the statement said.
What Taslima Nasreen said
The visuals of a violent mob confronting the book stall salesperson and forcing the stall to shut down are making rounds on social media. Sharing one video on her X (formerly Twitter) account, Taslima Nasreen called the group of people “jihadist religious extremists” and also accused the government of supporting them.
In the post, she wrote, “Today, jihadist religious extremists attacked the stall of the publisher Sabyasachi at Bangladesh's book fair. Their "crime" was publishing my book. The book fair authorities and the police from the local station ordered the removal of my book. Even after it was removed, the extremists attacked, vandalized the stall, and shut it down. The government is supporting these extremists, and jihadist activities are spreading across the country.”
Witnesses’ accounts
While recalling what went down at the book fair during the attack, one witness said, “a group of agitators came to Sabyasachi Prakashani and started shouting first why Taslima Nasreen's book was kept in the stall. Later Publisher Shatabdi Bhava was attacked by the people. They threw away Taslima's book."
"Later, the situation came under control after police picked up Publisher Shatabdi Bhava and the agitators from the spot," the witness added.
A police official, Masud Alam, told ANI that additional police force was sent after they heard of the “disturbance” at the book fair. “The panic was there due to tensions between some students of the Qaumi Madrasa and the publisher of Sabyasachi Prokashoni,” the cop said, adding that both the parties “were brought to the police station and the situation is now under control”.
