Bangladesh: Awami League says BNP, Jamaat mob killed party worker

Dhaka, Dec 17 (IANS) As the law and order situation continues to deteriorate in Bangladesh under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, another Awami League worker was brutally killed in a mob attack on Wednesday, allegedly by the workers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami.

According to Awami League's media cell, the victim, Riyad Hossain, was stabbed to death by BNP–Jamaat "mob terrorists" due to his support for the party's associate body, Swechchhasebak League.

The party alleged that "extremist BNP–Jamaat militants" arrived on motorcycles and, without any provocation or altercation, launched a coordinated mob attack on Riyad.

The Awami League claimed that the killing was intended to spread fear among the party's activists and assert "terrorist" dominance of the group.

"Their objective was singular: to spread fear among Awami League activists and to demonstrate their terrorist dominance. When BNP–Jamaat mob groups take to the streets, they pursue one goal only -- to halt progressive politics in Bangladesh, to intimidate, and to spill the blood of ordinary people," the Awami League posted on X.

"The attack on Riyad is not merely a personal killing -- it is an open message from the resurgent BNP–Jamaat terrorist network in Bangladesh that they are willing to target even innocent civilians at any time. Not democracy -- mob terrorism is their weapon," it added.

Last month, the Awami League accused the Yunus government of conspiring to push the people of the country towards an uncertain future, warning that a new form of "mob terrorism" has emerged as an organised "terror tactic".

Slamming the Yunus regime, the party stated that since the "illegal usurpers" seized power, incidents of murder, rape, theft, robbery, looting, and mugging have sharply increased across the country.

It claimed that the Yunus-led interim government has resorted to "terrorism" as a means to cling to power, leaving citizens with no guarantee of even minimal safety for their lives or property.

"When the state itself becomes the patron of terrorism and acts with terror against its own citizens, there can no longer exist the rule of law or public order characteristic of a civilised and modern state. This is why, under the guise of law and order, even the Chattogram Police Commissioner can casually speak about 'brush fires' (summary shootings). For a regime that lacks the people's mandate, terror and fear become the only means of survival -- and that reality is being reflected throughout society and the state," read a statement issued by the Awami League.