San Francisco Frontiers - Political violence shadows Bangladesh's new government

Rahman, who leads the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), pledged during February's elections to end the state-backed violence that marked Sheikh Hasina's rule before her ouster in the 2024 revolution.

Rights groups say political rivalries, weak law enforcement and a culture of impunity are driving continued violence after the elections brought Bangladesh's first elected government to power since the uprising.

Prominent rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) recorded at least 66 politically related killings, along with 61 deaths in police custody, 11 extrajudicial killings and other alleged human rights abuses over the last six months.

"Deaths in jail and police custody appear to be rising," ASK senior official Abu Ahmed Faijul Kabir told AFP.

The government disputes that.

It insists the situation is improving and argues that the increase in reported killings reflects historic cases because surviving relatives only now feel secure enough to report them to police.

"After the current government assumed office, we are in a historically improved position on most indicators," Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told parliament in late June.

- 'Bury the truth' -

Others tell a different story.

In June, 17-year-old Mohammed Suman joined a rally held by Hasina's Awami League.

The rally was banned -- Hasina is a convicted fugitive hiding in neighbouring India and facing a death sentence in absentia -- and Suman vanished.

Three days later, police recovered the teenager's rotting corpse from the Turag River in Dhaka, along with the bodies of two others.

"We were not even aware that Suman was involved in politics," his uncle Jewel Babu told AFP, saying he was a hardworking teenager who worked night shifts at a kitchen market while studying for school.

Suman's family said they pieced together what happened from friends, who said police and a mob broke up a flash Awami League rally, forcing them to flee by boat across the river.

"We have heard that, after being chased by local BNP leaders, they crossed the river only to encounter police," said Supreme Court lawyer Arif Sarkar Pavel, who is representing seven men arrested during the same incident and held under anti-terrorism laws.

"Some people also beat them with bamboo sticks after they jumped into the river," he added. "Police are trying to bury the truth."

Police have denied accusations of brutality and said that there was "no incident" of killing. AFP could not independently verify how Suman died.

Police spokesman AHM Shahadat Hossain said authorities were investigating all reported incidents of violence.

"In some cases, political party members were killed over personal feuds or land disputes," Hossain told AFP. "However, because the victims were involved in politics, the incidents are labelled as political violence."

He added that authorities expected tensions to rise ahead of local polls later this year.

"Past records show that we experience more violence during local government elections," Hossain said.

- 'Rule of law' -

BNP spokesperson Shairul Kabir Khan said Rahman had already expelled party members guilty of political violence.

"He has instructed both the Home Ministry and the Law Ministry to remain neutral and ensure justice for victims -- regardless of their political affiliation," Khan said.

"Unfortunately, violence is part of politics in the subcontinent, and Bangladesh is not immune to that culture," he added.

The violence has included local power struggles within political parties.

On June 9, local BNP official Billal Hossain Talukdar was stabbed to death during a meeting.

On June 12, Masudul Haque, a local BNP leader and businessman in Chattogram, was shot dead by gunmen who arrived in a motor-rickshaw.

And on July 6, attackers hurled petrol bombs at an opposition rally in Savar, outside Dhaka, wounding four activists from the National Citizen Party.

The political violence comes against a backdrop of continued violent crime, with police statistics recording an average of at least 10 murders a day, including 1,238 murders between March and June.

"If the government wants to remain popular, it should ensure the rule of law -- regardless of the identity of the perpetrators," said Muhammad Sazzad Hossain Siddiqui, a professor of peace and conflict studies of the University of Dhaka.

Siddiqui said periods of political transition typically trigger violence from two groups -- those seeking to reclaim lucrative illicit income streams from rivals and those competing for local dominance.

When such violence goes unchecked or perpetrators act with impunity, he said, the cycle of bloodshed becomes self-perpetuating.

"That is exactly what we are witnessing now," he told AFP.

F.Garcia--SFF