DHAKA, Aug 4: A Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) report has revealed that at least 121 people were killed and 5,189 were injured in 471 incidents of political violence in Bangladesh between August 2024 and June 2025 under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government. The report found that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was involved in 92% of the violence, while the radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami was involved in 5% of the incidents.
The National Citizen Party (NCP) was involved in 1%. The report also highlighted the lack of respect for law among political parties and the lack of a clear roadmap for implementation of reforms initiated by the interim government. TIB expressed concern that the constitutional and legal implementation of reforms outlined in the July Charter remains uncertain despite political consensus on certain reform proposals. The report also highlighted that freedom of information and expression still faces restrictions in Bangladesh. The report also noted that religion-based political influence has grown significantly in the country, with violence and coercion against women and religious minorities contradicting values of inclusiveness and non-discrimination. After the Yunus-led interim government took power, Bangladesh has been plagued with numerous unprovoked and violent attacks against journalists, police officers, minorities, and those connected with the Awami League party.
Bangladesh remains unstable a year after uprising
Abdur Rahman Tarif, a Bangladeshi citizen, was talking to his sister Meherunnesa when he heard a stray bullet hit her chest. Meherunnesa, 23, was killed on Aug 5 last year, the same day Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee the country in a massive student-led uprising that ended her 15-year rule. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over the country as head of an interim government, promising to restore order and hold a new election after necessary reforms. A year on, Bangladesh is still reeling from that violence, and Hasina now faces trial for crimes against humanity, in absentia as she is in exile in India.
The hope of the thousands who braved lethal violence a year ago when they opposed Sheikh Hasina’s abusive rule to build a rights-respecting democracy remains unfulfilled. The interim government formed 11 reform commissions, including a national consensus commission that is working with major political parties for future governments and the electoral process. However, bickering political parties have failed to reach a consensus on a timetable and process for elections. Mob violence, political attacks on rival parties and groups, and hostility to women’s rights and vulnerable minority groups by religious hardliners have all surged.
Human Rights Watch has accused the new government of using arbitrary detention to target perceived political opponents, especially Hasina’s supporters, many of whom have been forced to go into hiding. The interim government appears stuck, juggling an unreformed security sector, sometimes violent religious hardliners, and political groups that seem more focused on extracting vengeance on Hasina’s supporters than protecting Bangladeshis’ rights.
Bangladesh also faces political uncertainty over a return to democratically held elections. Yunus has been at loggerheads with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), now the main contender for power. The interim government has also cleared the way for Islamists, who were under severe pressure during Hasina’s regime, to rise, while the student leaders who spearheaded the uprising have formed a new political party. Critics fear that greater influence of the Islamist forces could fragment Bangladesh’s political landscape further.
For some, not much has changed in the last year. Meherunnesa’s father, Mosharraf Hossain, said the uprising symbolized deeper frustrations, wanting a new Bangladesh where freedom was not achieved. (Agencies)
