Dhaka, October 31, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Bangladesh has witnessed a sharp escalation in mob violence since the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5, 2024, with incidents ranging from alleged blasphemy-related lynchings to attacks linked to personal vendettas and attempts to seize property, according to a report published by The Diplomat.
The report said the violence has also targeted shrines, newspaper offices, cultural organisations, national monuments and memorials associated with the country’s 1971 Liberation War. It also highlighted incidents involving the exhumation of bodies from graves.
The recent killing of 38-year-old Wahiduzzaman Shamim in Satkhira in southwestern Bangladesh over allegations of blasphemy, along with an attack on a charitable maternity clinic in Dhaka, has further raised concerns over the country’s law and order situation, the report said.
It criticised the former interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus, which assumed office after the Awami League government’s ouster in August 2024 and remained in power until February 2026, for failing to contain the deteriorating situation.
Although Bangladesh has had an elected government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since February this year, incidents of mob violence have continued, the report noted.
Citing figures from the Human Rights Culture Foundation, The Diplomat reported that Bangladesh recorded 537 incidents of mob violence between January 1 and October 17 this year, resulting in 256 deaths and 575 injuries. This compares with 428 incidents in 2025 and 169 in 2024.
The report also cited data from Dhaka-based rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), which recorded 171 deaths in mob violence between January 1 and September 30 this year. The organisation reported 198 incidents in 2025 and 128 in 2024.
While the methodologies used by different organisations may vary, the figures point to a serious public security crisis, the report said, adding that mob violence continues to persist.
The report also referred to allegations that leaders and workers of the ruling BNP have been involved in property-grabbing incidents.
It described the attack on a 50-year-old government-run maternity centre in Dhaka as the most significant BNP-related incident of the past eight months. The facility was reportedly the only medical centre serving women in the surrounding slum areas.
According to the report, a group of local shopkeepers allegedly attacked the centre with the intention of taking over its land. The BNP expelled several local leaders over the incident and forced a parliamentarian to resign, it added.
Questions have also been raised about the role of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s largest Islamist party, and its associates in mob violence involving religious issues, the report said.
The killing of Shamim in the name of protecting Islam was cited as one such incident.
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