Government disputes TIB claims on pre-election killings

The interim government has responded to a recent report by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on election-related killings, urging that the figures be interpreted with context and care, rather than repeated uncritically.

“Transparency International Bangladesh says that 15 political leaders and activists were killed in the 36 days following the announcement of the election schedule. That number has quickly taken on a life of its own. But it deserves scrutiny, not blind repetition,” the government said in a statement.

The Chief Adviser’s Press Wing issued the statement on Saturday, noting that police records show only five killings during this period can be directly linked to a person’s political profile or activity. One of these was the murder of Osman Hadi, who was shot dead by gunmen on a motorcycle.

“Every killing is condemnable. Osman Hadi’s murder was particularly brutal, aimed not only at silencing a young political leader but at provoking fear and instability at a sensitive political moment,” the statement said. “That objective failed. The country did not spiral into retaliatory violence, and the election process has not been derailed.”

Highlighting a lack of historical context in TIB’s presentation, the statement added: “Political violence around elections is not new in Bangladesh. In the sham elections of 2024, six people were killed. In the night-time elections of 2018, 22 people lost their lives. In the officially rigged 2014 polls, political violence claimed at least 115 lives.”

Measured against this history, it said, claims that the current pre-election period reflects a breakdown in security are difficult to sustain.

The statement also addressed the discrepancy between TIB’s figures and official data, saying it is not a cover-up but a difference in classification of deaths.

“TIB appears to count every killing of a person affiliated with a political party as election-related, regardless of whether there is evidence that the killing was politically motivated,” it said.

“The government, by contrast, counts only deaths with direct and provable links to electoral activity. Treating these approaches as equivalent distorts public understanding and inflates perceptions of insecurity,” it added.

On the state of public security, the statement acknowledged that conditions were not perfect. “Years of politicised policing and abuse under the Hasina government destroyed public trust, which is why people from all walks of life demanded an interim, non-partisan government,” it said.

Since taking office, the statement said, the interim government has removed or suspended officials credibly accused of abuses, reviewed the role of specialised units, initiated criminal proceedings in cases of enforced disappearance and torture, and issued clear rules governing policing of assemblies and the electoral period.

The peaceful handling of three highly emotional and unprecedented mass events—the funerals of Osman Hadi and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and the return of BNP chairman Tarique Rahman—demonstrates that restraint and professionalism are now possible where they were previously absent, the statement said.

“No government can guarantee that there will be no attempts at violence, particularly when influential actors are actively calling for disruption. But the conditions today are not the same as before,” it added.

Security forces are under close scrutiny, political parties and civil society are cooperating, and international observers are on the ground, the statement said. “Together, these conditions give real reason to believe that this election can finally end the cycle of fear and violence that defined previous polls.”