Bangladesh launches ‘Operation Devil Hunt’ in response to attack on former minister’s residence

Dhaka:

Bangladesh’s interim government launched an operation Saturday after a student group gave a 24-hour ultimatum to track down “culprits” who assaulted their activists during a reported attack by protesters on an Awami League leader’s house on the outskirts of Dhaka.

The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement leaders claim their activists went to the ex-minister’s house to prevent looting but were attacked by miscreants.

## Operation Devil Hunt Launched

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus’s government ordered “Operation Devil Hunt” calling out army troops as a protest by the student organization was underway in Gazipur, where their activists were assaulted on Friday. The operation began across Gazipur and would extend nationwide to ensure public safety. Details about the coordinated security clampdown comprising army and law enforcement agencies would be announced on Sunday.

## Details of the Incident

According to media reports and witnesses, people in the neighborhood and Awami League workers assaulted the activists during the attack at the Gazipur home of ex-liberation war affairs minister AKM Mozammel Haque, injuring several of them. The students’ platform leaders claim their activists went to Haque’s house to stop lootings after receiving information that it was being plundered. They alleged that police did not respond to their call when the miscreants attacked them.

## Police Response and Government Action

However, Gazipur police said security personnel rushed to the scene after receiving information and rescued the students, of which 15 were admitted to a local hospital. Later, some of them were shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with critical wounds. Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury visited the hospital and promised to track down each attacker and bring them to justice. Officer-in-charge of Gazipur Sadar Police Station Arifur Rahman said a manhunt has also been launched for the culprits who attacked the students. He was later suspended on charges of negligence of duty, the Daily Star newspaper reported.

## Political Unrest and Demands

The incident was part of the widespread violence that erupted across the country on Wednesday night over a live online address by Sheikh Hasina. Mobs targeted supporters of the deposed prime minister and vandalized their homes and businesses in Dhaka and other cities. Protesters also set fire to the historic 32 Dhanmondi residence of Bangladesh’s founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The Student Movement, which led the protests leading to her ouster, along with the Jatiya Nagorik Committee, demanded the cancellation of Awami League’s registration as a political party, the trial of Hasina and her associates, and the confiscation of their property for their role in the brutal crackdown during the July-August uprising that eventually toppled the party’s regime.

## Calls for Restoring Law and Order

Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) urged the interim government to curb “mob culture” and restore law and order, warning that failure to do so could lead to the reemergence of “fascist” forces. Unrest has gripped Bangladesh again, six months after the student-led uprising ousted the Awami League, which had been in power for nearly 16 years.