Bangaladeshi-American writer Avijit Roy was hacked to death by Islamist militants on his way back from a book fair at Dhaka University on Thursday. He paid with his life for his rationalist and undeterred athiestic thinking. Roy and his wife, Rafida Ahmed Banya, were attacked by unidentified miscreants. Ahmed, who is also a blogger, was seriously injured while Roy lost his life.
Their daughter who lives in America wrote a tearful ode for his father on Facebook and and voiced Roy's firm belief in voicing one's opinions. She wrote, "The reason I am sharing this post is less for me and more for my dad. He was a firm believer in voicing your opinion to better the world."
In the post, she recounted how Roy met her mother when she was just 6-years old and how he gradually became her most trusted confidante. She also wrote that Roy always taught her to be bold, unafraid and informed.
"He and my mom started dating when I was six years old. In the twelve years that followed, he became my friend, my hero, my most trusted confidante, my dance partner (even though we're both terrible dancers), and my father. Not once did he tell me to simmer down or be more polite; he taught me to be informed, bold and unafraid."
Roy's daughter further wrote that we should strive to make the world a better place and that there is never a reason to stop fighting for the betterment of it.
"To say that i am furious or heartbroken would be an understatement. But as messed up as the world is, there's never a reason to stop fighting to make it better. I'll carry the lessons he taught me and the love he gave me forever. I love you so much, Dad. Thank you for every single thing."
Avijit Roy is the founder of Mukto-Mona (Free-mind) blog site which champions liberal secular writing in the Muslim majority nation of Bangladesh. Avijit Roy's blog, for the moment, has gone black, but with the promise that his fight against extremism will remain undefeated.
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