Bangladeshi author-in-exile Taslima Nasreen on Monday accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of backing extremist elements for votes, saying that she never took any action against the killers and instead protected them because she feared losing power.
"Sheikh Hasina created fundamentalist organisations. She protects fundamentalist organisations and fundamentalists who are involved in the killings of atheist bloggers and secular writers because she wanted to get votes from religious masses. She didn't take any actions against the killers," Nasreen told CNN-News18 over the phone.
Nasreen, who has been living outside Bangladesh for many years, said the government failed to give security to the writers leading to their steady exodus to other countries and many of them have stopped writing out of fear.
She added that there is no freedom of expression in Bangladesh as many bloggers, writers were killed or imprisoned only for expressing views different from that of the fundamentalists.
"Instead of taking action against Islamist killers in Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina warned bloggers and writers not to write anything that hurts the religious sentiments of people. She started taking action only after international pressure mounted on her and some rich, educated people also got killed by these fundamentalists," Nasreen added.
"Apart from Islamist terrorists, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists and rationalists are also citizens of this country. Why doesn't she have any kind of sympathy for all those people?" Nasreen asked.
Nasreen also said home grown terrorists were behind Friday's terror attack in Bangladesh capital Dhaka, which killed 28 people including one Indian.
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