Two members of PEN have expressed solidarity with the Dhaka Lit Fest (DLF) that kicks off today.
In a letter signed by Jo Glanville, director of English PEN, and Salil Tripathi, chair of the Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International, and sent to the organisers of the DLF yesterday, they said the festival should go ahead as planned.
“We believe that it is important for the festival to go ahead as planned, and we hope that the writers you have invited will be coming to the festival,” the letter addressed to Kazi Anis Ahmed, Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi and Ahsan Akbar reads.
“However, the tragic events of the last few months may make some participants feel concerned. We understand that a number of writers invited to attend the festival are considering pulling out or have already done so due to concerns regarding safety and security in the country.
“We also understand that you have reached out to all invitees to reassure them,” the letter reads.
Glanville and Tripathi said the recent murders of bloggers Ananta Bijoy Das, Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahman Babu and Niloy Chakrabarti and publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan have been of grave concern to them.
They said writers’ not attending the festival does not reflect on the event. “Some who would wish to attend and to show solidarity with you, the organisers, simply do not feel safe enough to do so, despite the significant steps the festival has taken to improve security.”
The letter ends with: “We stand with you in solidarity and hope that the Bangladeshi government will do all in its power to ensure that the festival is able to go ahead by providing the necessary protection and security measures.”
PEN International is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual cooperation. English PEN is the founding centre of PEN International.