After the death of prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi on Thursday at Singapore’s General Hospital, violent protests have erupted in numerous Bangladeshi cities.
Hadi passed away last week from gunshot wounds sustained in a murder attempt in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital.
What we currently know is as follows.
Sharif Osman Hadi, who was he?
Hadi, 32, was a well-known figure in Bangladesh’s student-led uprising in 2024.
In the upcoming elections, which are scheduled for February 2026, he planned to run for president of the city’s Bijoynagar district as a candidate for the “Platform for Revolution” or “Inquilab Mancha” or “Platform for Revolution.”
Hadi also publicly criticised India, where the ousted Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled following the uprising last year, and how it impacted domestic politics there.
When, where, and in what manner did Hadi pass away?
Authorities in Singapore and Inqilab Mancha made the announcement on Thursday.
After being hurt in an assassination attempt on December 12, he died in a hospital in Singapore where he was receiving care. On a motorcycle that was mounted next to the battery-powered auto-rickshaw he was riding in, two assailants struck him in the head. He was taken to the hospital in Dhaka Medical College.
Hadi was discovered to have brain stem damage, and he was treated there on December 15 after being transported from Dhaka to Singapore General Hospital’s neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Hadi succumbed to his injuries despite the best efforts of the doctors, according to a statement from Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.
In a late on Thursday Facebook post, Inqilab Mancha stated that Allah had granted Osman Hadi the honor of martyr in the struggle against Indian hegemony.
According to Al Jazeera’s Moudud Ahmmed Sujan, on Friday, groups of mourners gathered in the Shahbag neighborhood in central Dhaka to await Hadi’s body, which was scheduled to arrive in the capital on Friday evening.
What was the response of the Bangladeshi authorities?
Bangladeshi police launched a search for Hadi’s killers on December 12.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the nation’s counterterrorism unit, is also involved in this manhunt.
Two important suspects were depicted in stills of the incident on CCTV in a news release on December 13 in a release. For information leading to their arrest, police offered a reward of five million taka (roughly $42,000).
The CCTV stills feature two men both sporting black glasses and clothes. One wears a black hoodie, the other a black dress shirt, and one wristwatch.
According to The Daily Star, Bangladeshi police and border guards have so far detained at least 20 people in connection with the incident, but the investigation is still ongoing.
How did Bangladeshi leaders react to the passing of Hadi?
Muhammad Yunus, the interim head of the nation’s interim government, expressed his condolences and described Hadi’s death as “an irreparable loss for the country.”
In a televised speech on Thursday, he said, “The country’s march toward democracy cannot be halted by fear, terror, or bloodshed.”
Following Friday prayers and a Saturday-long day of mourning, the government also made special prayers available at mosques.
The acting leader of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), Tareq Rahman, wrote on Facebook, “We are deeply saddened by Sharif Osman Hadi’s passing. We are deeply saddened by the passing of Sharif Osman Hadi, the spokesperson for Inqilab Manch and independent candidate for Dhaka-8 constituency.”
The National Citizen Party (NCP) expressed condolences to Hadi’s family in a news release to local media outlets.
How did protesters react to his death?
Violence started to erupt on Thursday in Dhaka and other parts of the nation after the news of Hadi’s death, which was then expected to continue on Friday.
The ministry of home affairs and the ministry of law’s heads must resign, accusing the government of failing to protect Hadi’s safety. They also demand that the gunmen, who many believe have fled India, be returned.
Tanvir Chowdhury, a reporter for Al Jazeera from Dhaka, reported that “it’s mostly students, but there’s also people from all walks of life, with some political party elements.”
Their main thrust is “We want justice” for Osman Hadi’s murderer.
They claim that the shooter must be charged as soon as reasonably or they will continue to protest.
In Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar, a group of protesters gathered outside the head office of the nation’s top Bengali-language newspaper Prothom Alo, which they claimed is quoting as pro-India. According to the websites of various prominent media outlets, they then jumped into the building.
Another group of protesters pushed into the offices of the Daily Star, which were also viewed as being pro-Indian, and set the building on fire a few hundred meters (yards) away.
28 journalists and employees were reportedly stranded for four hours in the burning building, according to the outlet.
Soldiers and paramilitary border guards were stationed outside the two buildings to keep an eye on the situation, but they did not immediately intervene to disperse the protesters.
On Thursday, protesters reportedly threw stones at the Assistant High Commissioner of India in Chittagong, according to local media.
What was the cause of Bangladesh’s student protests in 2024?
Students in Bangladesh took to the streets in July 2024 to protest the traditional job quota system, which in 1971 was largely viewed as the political elite today.
As the protests grew, Hasina set up a brutal crackdown. Nearly 1,400 people were killed and more than 20, 000 were injured before she was eventually ousted and fled to India, according to the nation’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT). She is still there today.
The former Bangladesh leader had ordered police to use “lethal weapons” against the protesters, according to records obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit in July of this year.
Hasina was found guilty of crimes against humanity last month in absentia, and the Dhaka tribunal sentenced her to death. She will now be sent back to Bangladesh where India has not yet agreed to do so.
Why has India become enraged by this?
According to Al Jazeera’s Chowdhury, there is a strong anti-India sentiment in the crowd in Dhaka on Friday. They claim that India regularly interferes with Bangladesh’s affairs, particularly right before the elections, and that former Indian prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been making provocative statements there.
Many Bangladeshis are now posting rumors that the assailants have fled to India following Hadi’s death online. These assertions have been made by some youth party politicians.
The Indian High Commission will remain closed until the Indian High Commission returns assassins from Hadi Bhai, according to Sarjis Alam, a leader of the youth-led National Citizen Party (NCP). Never, Ever. We’re engaged in combat”!
Nadim Hawlader, 32, a volunteer activist for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, claimed Hadi had been “brutally murdered” to silence opposition. He is from Dhaka’s airport area.
We are here to protest his murder and what we perceive as Indian aggression, Hawlader said.
He claimed that India had abused its position in Bangladesh since 1971 and that New Delhi had supported Sheikh Hasina’s rule for the previous 17 years, leading to political repression and killings.
Source: Aljazeera
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