DHAKA: As public anger intensifies, Bangladeshi activists and journalists have accused India of providing safe havens to individuals they allege were involved in targeted killings linked to political unrest in Bangladesh.
The accusations have added a sharp diplomatic dimension to the unfolding crisis, further escalating tensions amid calls for accountability and justice.
Bangladesh has been gripped by renewed nationwide protests following the death of prominent student leader Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, a key figure of the 2024 student-led uprising, who succumbed to his injuries while receiving treatment in Singapore.
Violence broke out in Bangladesh’s capital early Friday after a youth leader of the country’s 2024 pro-democracy uprising who was injured in an assassination attempt died in a hospital in Singapore.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Dhaka after the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, 32, was announced, to demand that his killers be arrested.
Several buildings in the capital, including those housing the country’s two leading newspapers, were set on fire, according to authorities, with staff trapped inside.
Hadi was a key figure in last year’s uprising that ended the autocratic rule of prime minister Sheikh Hasina and sent her fleeing to India. He was running for a parliament seat in the February 2026 national election.
On December 12, Hadi was shot by masked assailants as he was leaving a mosque in Dhaka. He was airlifted to a hospital in Singapore for treatment, where he succumbed to his injuries on Thursday.
At least three cases of arson were reported in Dhaka after the news of his death spread, a spokesperson for the Fire Brigade and Civil Defence force told AFP, including a fire at the Daily Star building and another at a building housing the Prothom Alo newspaper.
The two papers are the largest in the South Asian country, but protesters accused them of being aligned with neighbouring India, where Hasina has taken refuge.
The house of India’s deputy ambassador to Bangladesh was also surrounded by hundreds of people who were trying to demonstrate in a sit-in, but police lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the crowd, according to local news reports.
In addition, protesters blocked a key highway connecting the capital with the central city of Mymensingh and attacked the residence of a former minister in Chittagong in the country’s southeast, according to footage shown on local television.