Nov 2 – The central office of the Jatiya Party, a coalition led by Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was set ablaze during clashes in Dhaka on Thursday night. Witnesses reported partial damage to the office following the violence.
The Jatiya Party, founded by the late President Hussain Muhammad Ershad, had previously aligned with the Bangladesh Awami League-led Grand Alliance and participated in the last three general elections, even as the major opposition party, the BNP, chose to boycott.
Tensions flared after the Jatiya Party announced plans for a rally in Dhaka on Saturday, provoking anger among protesters opposed to Hasina’s leadership. Clashes erupted when a group carrying the banner of Chhatra Sramik Janata marched with torches outside the Jatiya Party’s office in the Kakrail area, a central district of the capital. Firefighters were dispatched to extinguish the flames.
As the protest intensified, demonstrators vandalized the Jatiya Party office, tearing down signboards and defacing a portrait of the party’s founder, Ershad. Both police and military forces were deployed to manage the situation.
Shakiluzzaman, a leader of the Gono Audhikar Parishad—one of the political groups actively opposing Hasina—claimed that members of the Jatiya Party instigated violence. “We were peacefully marching with torches when individuals from the Jatiya Party threw bricks at us from their office rooftop,” he said. “They set fire to their own office and then fled. The Jatiya Party has acted as a proxy for the fascist Awami League during the elections of 2014, 2018, and 2024. We, the students, workers, and citizens, will not allow the Jatiya Party to hold any rallies.”
While the Jatiya Party had not provided an immediate response, an official statement is expected later today.
This unrest follows a student-led movement that successfully ousted Hasina two months ago after weeks of protests and violent clashes that resulted in over 600 fatalities. Hasina, now 76, fled to India on August 5, leading to the establishment of an interim government headed by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus.
Source: capitalfm
