Islamic radicals want to make Bangladesh another Afghanistan, it's scary and alarming: Taslima Nasrin

Taslima Nasrin warns of Islamic radical influence in Bangladesh, expressing fear of becoming another Afghanistan.

Expressing concern that Bangladesh might go the Afghanistan way, writer-activist Taslima Nasrin has said that Islamic radicals are brainwashing and indoctrinating youths to make them "anti-India, anti-Hindu, and pro-Pakistan".

Ms. Nasrin said she and others had initially supported the students' movement in Bangladesh against an "autocratic government".

However, the recent actions like violence against Hindus, targeting of journalists and the release of "terrorists" from jails showed it was not a students' movement but was "planned and funded by Islamic jihadis", she said.

“When students protested against the quota system in July, we supported them... people who believe in women’s rights, human rights and freedom of expression.”

"Sheikh Hasina was an autocrat who always encouraged fundamentalists and curbed freedom of expression. People were angry with her,” she told PTI in an exclusive interview.

She said they had hoped that a fair election would be conducted to democratically form a new government.

"But afterwards we realised that it was not a students' movement. It was planned and funded by Islamist jihadis and banned terrorist organisation,” said the author, who had to flee Bangladesh in 1994 following death threats from Islamic fundamentalists and faced a ban on her books.