Dhaka, Oct 13 (IANS) Amid growing political hostility in Bangladesh, a group of people attacked and vandalised the residence of Jatiya Party Chairman G M Quader in Dhaka’s Uttara, drawing strong condemnation.
The attack occurred on Monday after around 50 people gathered outside the house carrying a banner reading “Anti-Autocracy General Public” while demanding Quader’s arrest, local media reported.
They accused Quader of being an aide to ousted former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and betraying the July 2024 uprising.
Speaking to Bangladesh’s newspaper ‘The Daily Star’, Quader recounted that he and his wife were having breakfast when they heard a commotion outside, followed by the attackers approaching their home.
“I then heard that they were heading towards our house. Shortly afterwards, bricks and stones started being thrown at the house from all sides,” he stated.
The stone-pelting shattered the windowpanes, leaving broken glass scattered across the drawing room, but the attackers failed to enter the house as the gate was locked, he added.
Confirming the incident, Uttara West Police Station Officer-in-Charge Khalid Mansur said, “We rushed to the spot immediately after receiving the information. The attackers fled after noticing the police presence. Around 30-40 people threw bricks at the house from outside and vandalised it, but none of them could enter the building.”
Bangladesh’s Awami League has strongly condemned the violent attack on former opposition leader Quader, warning that public calls for his “arrest and killing” reflect a growing threat to political dissent and democratic rights in the country.
“Those claiming to fight autocracy are accused of using violence to silence opponents. Meanwhile, attacks on dissenters continue amid international silence. When dissent becomes a death sentence, democracy is dead in spirit. The right to life is not a political privilege. It is a fundamental human right,” the party stated.
“When dissent becomes a death sentence, democracy is dead in spirit. The right to life is not a political privilege. It is a fundamental human right,” it noted.
Criticising the attack, former Bangladesh Minister and Awami League leader Mohammad Ali Arafat alleged that BNP workers carried out the brutal attack at the residence of Quader because he had admitted to speaking with Sheikh Hasina.
In a post on X, Arafat said, “This is utterly disgraceful. No political disagreement, past association, or conversation with a political leader can justify mob violence or intimidation. If a political leader can be targeted at his own home simply for speaking to someone the attackers oppose, what does that say about the state of democracy, freedom of expression, and the rule of law in Bangladesh under the BNP government?”
He cited the US-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch, which recently raised concerns over the arbitrary detention of perceived political opponents, the mass arrest of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal supporters, and the erosion of human rights safeguards under the current BNP government.
Warning of broader implications of political violence, Arafat said, “Democracy cannot survive when political disagreement is answered with violence, dissent is treated as a crime, and mobs are allowed to intimidate their opponents with impunity. Bangladesh deserves equal protection under the law, accountability for political violence, and the restoration of fundamental rights for everyone.”
–IANS
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