Dhaka, Oct 31 (IANS) Bangladesh has witnessed a disturbing escalation in mob violence since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5, 2024, with incidents ranging from lynchings over allegations of blasphemy to attacks fuelled by personal vendettas and attempts to grab property, a report has stated.
It noted that he violence has extended to vandalism and attacks on shrines, newspaper offices, cultural organisations, national monuments and memorials linked to the country’s 1971 Liberation War, besides the disturbing practice of exhuming bodies from graves.
“The recent killing of 38-year-old Wahiduzzaman Shamim in Satkhira in southwest Bangladesh on allegations of blasphemy and attacks on a charitable maternity clinic in the capital, Dhaka, have only deepened these concerns,” according to a report in The Diplomat.
The report highlighted that the former interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus, which took charge after the ouster of the Awami League government in August 2024 and remained in power until February 2026, failed to address the worsening law and order situation.
Although Bangladesh has had an elected government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since February this year, incidents of mob violence continue, it added.
Citing data from the Human Rights Culture Foundation, The Diplomat reported that Bangladesh recorded 537 incidents of mob violence between January 1 and October 17 this year, leaving 256 people dead and 575 injured, compared to 428 incidents in 2025 and 169 in 2024.
Additionally, it referred to data from Dhaka-based rights body Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), which indicated that 171 people were killed in mob violence from January 1 to September 30 this year. The number of incidents stood at 198 in 2025 and 128 in 2024
“While methodologies for data collection and calculation may vary across different organisations, the data points to a similar scenario — mob violence has become a grave public security crisis for Bangladesh. And it is not stopping,” The Diplomat mentioned.
According to the report, leaders and workers of the ruling BNP have also been accused of involvement in incidents of property grabbing.
“The most significant BNP-related incident in the past eight months was the attack on a 50-year-old government-run maternity center in Dhaka, the sole medical facility serving local slum women. A group of local shopkeepers allegedly carried out the attack with the intent to seize the hospital’s land. The BNP has expelled several local leaders in this incident and forced a parliamentarian to resign,” the report stated.
“Meanwhile, questions have been raised about the role of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, and its associates in mob violence linked to religious issues. The killing of 38-year-old Shamim in the name of protecting Islam is just one example,” it added.
–IANS
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