Despite Big Promises, Bangladesh Govt Doing Little To End Mob Culture: Report

(MENAFN- IANS) Dhaka, April 18 (IANS) Despite the big promises made by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, the much-awaited end to mob culture in the country is yet to arrive, the local media in Dhaka has highlighted.

A report in The Daily Star recalled that as the BNP government came to power in February this year, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed had declared the "end of mob culture".

"The statement was bold, and long overdue. After months in which mob violence had become alarmingly routine, it offered a sense of relief, even hope, that the state was finally ready to reclaim authority from the streets. That hope was short-lived," the newspaper mentioned.

"On April 10, a mob in Dhaka's Shahbagh attacked a group of friends near the National Museum, after branding them 'homosexuals', 'transgender', or 'hijra'. The next day, another mob hacked a pir named Abdur Rahman - also known as Shamim al-Jahangir - to death in Kushtia. Two days, two attacks, and two brutal reminders of how quickly a minister's promise unravelled," the report added.

The leading daily cited a recent report by Dhaka's Human Rights Support Society (HRSS) which has revealed that at least 49 people were killed in 88 mob-related incidents in the first three months of 2026 with March alone seeing 25 violent mob attacks that left 13 people dead and 38 injured.

"The government has not simply failed to prevent a series of attacks. By repeatedly declaring the end of mob violence while allowing it to continue, it has taught mobs a dangerous lesson: warnings do not always lead to consequences. Violent men watch what follows violence. When arrests are weak, prosecutions drag on, and punishment remains absent from public view, the message is quickly understood. The state hesitates. The street remains up for grabs," the report stated.

It made it clear that condemnation without consequence is not governance.

"What is needed now is not another statement. It is visible force of law. Immediate arrests. Sustained prosecution. Exemplary punishment. And that accountability cannot stop with the mobs. It must also reach the law enforcers who delay, hesitate, look away, or first try to calculate who the attackers are before deciding whether to act. The message to police must be unmistakable: when a mob forms, intervene. Protect the victim. Break the crowd. Arrest the attackers. Enforce the law," the Daily Star report emphasised.

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