Bangladesh: Key leader of student-led political party shot in Khulna amid fresh unrest

Muhammad Motaleb Shikder, a key leader of Bangladesh’s student-led National Citizen Party, was shot in Khulna on Monday, Prothom Alo reported. He was taken to hospital.

Shikder is a central leader of the party’s labour wing, the Jatiya Sramik Shakti. The student-led National Citizen Party was formed in February.

Shikder was shot amid a fresh wave of violence in the country.

The unrest in Bangladesh was triggered by the killing of student leader Sharif Osman Bin Hadi on December 12 in Dhaka. He died in Singapore on December 18.

The death of Hadi, a prominent leader of the student-led movement against the government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, triggered protests, vandalism and clashes in several parts of Bangladesh.

Stones were thrown at the residence of the assistant Indian high commissioner in Chittagong on Thursday. The offices of newspapers and properties linked to Hasina’s Awami League were also attacked.

On Sunday, New Delhi suspended visa operations at its Chittagong centre and heightened security around Indian missions following attacks in Bangladesh.

Hasina blames interim government for violence

Hasina on Sunday blamed the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus for the recent violence, warning that the deteriorating law and order situation was hurting relations with India, ANI reported

The crisis has also raised concerns about the safety of Indian diplomats in Bangladesh, she told the news agency.

“When you [government] cannot maintain basic order within your borders, your credibility on the international stage collapses,” the former prime minister said, adding that India was watching the chaos with “justified concern”.

Hasina also accused the Yunus govenrment of placing persons linked to extremist ideologies in positions of power, claiming that such groups had been emboldened to attack religious minorities and media offices. This was a key reason for Dhaka’s ties with New Delhi having strained recently, she said.

“India’s concerns about the safety of its personnel are justified,” Hasina told ANI. “A responsible government would protect diplomatic missions and prosecute those who threaten them. Instead, Yunus grants immunity to hooligans and calls them warriors.”

Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled to India on August 5, 2024, after weeks of widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government. She had been in power for 16 years.

Yunus, a Nobel economics laureate, took over as chief adviser of the interim government three days after Hasina resigned.

India had last week summoned Bangladesh’s high commissioner to convey concerns about calls by groups in the neighbouring country to create a security situation around the Indian High Commission in Dhaka. It has also raised concerns about the attacks on religious minorities during the violence, including the killing of a Hindu man, Dipu Chandra Das.

On Sunday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected reports in Bangladesh claiming that Indian citizens had threatened Bangladeshi diplomats in New Delhi, describing the allegations as “misleading propaganda”.

Responding to queries about a reported demonstration outside the Bangladeshi High Commission on Saturday, ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that a group of 20 to 25 persons had gathered to protest the killing of Das and to demand protection for minorities in the country.

Jaiswal added that there was no attempt to breach security at the High Commission and that the gathering was dispersed within minutes, reiterating India’s commitment to the safety of foreign missions and diplomatic personnel under the Vienna Convention.