DHAKA: One of Bangladesh’s top writers was stabbed in the back of the head during a seminar in the northern city of Sylhet on Saturday, police said, the latest in a series of attacks on authors and bloggers.

Police said Zafar Iqbal, a celebrated secular activist and bestselling science fiction writer, was rushed to hospital in Sylhet after the attack. “He was hit on the back of his head and he was bleeding,” a police constable posted at the hospital said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Abdul Wahab, a spokesman for the Sylhet city police, confirmed the incident, saying police suspect he was attacked with a knife. “He was in a seminar when he was stabbed on the back of his head. His gunman caught an attacker,” he said, referring to Iqbal’s police guard.

Bangladesh’s government has provided security for the country’s top secular writers and activists since suspected violent extremists named them in a several lists of targets.

Police do not know how many people were involved in the attack nor whether they belonged to any extremist groups, he said. “He has been taken to the operating theatre,” he said, adding he would be flown to a military hospital in Dhaka for better treatment.

Iqbal, who teaches at a state-run university in Sylhet, is a long-standing a champion of free speech and secularism in Bang­ladesh. He is also a top selling author and celebrity spea­ker who regularly appears at university campuses nationwide.

The attack was swiftly condemned by protesters in Dhaka and Sylhet.

“It is an ominous sign. He is a guardian of progressive movement in Bangladesh. His attack is an attack against progressive Bangladesh,” said Imran Sarker, head of one of the top secular groups.

“He was in the hit-list by militant and other groups in the past. The government can’t avoid its responsibility,” he said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina strongly condemned the attack and ordered security forces to track down the culprits, her press secretary Ihsanul Karim said.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2018