Bangladesh: Hadi's killing puts Yunus's interim government to test

It is a litmus test for Bangladesh’s interim government adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, to steer the country towards parliamentary elections due in February next year. The students who led the violent protests in July 2024, popularly called the July uprising, which led to the ouster of then prime minister Sheikh Hasina, are once again on the streets, this time as an organised political party under the banner of the National Citizen Party (NCP), joined by cadres of other political parties like Jamaat e Islami, demanding justice. They  are putting pressure on the interim government to bring justice for the killing of Sharif Osman Hadi, who died from gunshot wounds sustained in an attack last week.

Hadi was one of the leaders of the youth protests that forced Hasina to flee and was planning to contest the elections in February. While the interim government has called for restraint and patience, it is expected to be an uphill task to control the law and order situation, which has been deteriorating over the last few months.

While a section of protesters is demanding action against the killers who shot Hadi, police investigations will need to bring evidence forward to establish the complete identity of the attackers and their motive. It is only once their identity is established that the police can trace their whereabouts.

The protesting crowds are also demanding that the Yunus administration put pressure on investigating agencies to speed up the probe and explore whether the killers have crossed the borders. With no official details available from the government so far, the next step is unlikely to come soon. Until then, the challenge is to assure the protesters, including the NCP, that their concerns will be addressed sooner rather than later.

State mourning has been declared in Dhaka on Saturday, even as the city remains engulfed in a fresh wave of violent  protests. At the same time, questions are being raised about the role of political parties in Bangladesh in ensuring there is no political violence and killings that can fuel unrest and allow fringe elements to take advantage of the situation. Political parties like the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, the NCP, and even Awami League cadres will need to be reined in by political leaders, said security sources, to ensure that violence and killings do not take place in the run-up to the elections next year.

There has been brewing discontent among people over law and order, jobs, and the economic situation. Besides this, a basket of reforms that were promised now awaits a new government in Bangladesh to be fulfilled. The upcoming elections are critical not just for parliamentary representation, but also for constitutional reforms outlined to strengthen the judiciary, police, and other institutions that have lost the faith of the people. Hadi’s shooting came a day after authorities announced that the country’s first national election after Hasina’s ouster would be held in February. Violence is now spilling over onto the streets, and the offices of media houses are being vandalised. It remains to be seen how the Yunus administration, which accepts the role of “fringe elements” in actively trying to disrupt peace this time, is able to contain the protests.

Political observers point out that the difference between the July 2024 protests and the present violence on the streets of Dhaka is that while the former had the single goal of overthrowing the Sheikh Hasina government, the current crisis does not have a single grievance, rather is an accumulation of the worsening law and order situation, and ironically becomes the single biggest test case for the interim government that was installed a year-and-a-half ago.