No govt can guarantee zero violence: Press Secretary

Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam on Sunday said no government can guarantee the complete absence of violence, particularly when influential actors are actively calling for disruption.

“But the conditions today are not the same as before. Security forces are under close scrutiny, political parties and civil society are cooperating, and international observers are on the ground,” he said in response to Transparency International Bangladesh’s (TIB) report on election-related killings.

Together, Shafiqul Alam said, these factors provide genuine reason to believe that the upcoming election can finally break the cycle of fear and violence that marked previous polls.

TIB has reported 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,” said Shafiqul Alam.

He also said police records show that only five killings during this period can be directly linked to political profile or activity. One of those was the cold-blooded 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 also at provoking fear and instability at a sensitive political moment. That objective failed,” the press secretary said.

He said the country did not spiral into retaliatory violence and the election process has not been derailed.

“What is missing from TIB’s presentation is context. Political violence around elections is not new in Bangladesh. In the sham elections of 2024, six people were killed,” said Shafiqul Alam.

He added, “In the night-time election of 2018, 22 people lost their lives. In the officially rigged 2014 polls, political violence claimed at least 115 lives.”

Measured against this history, Shafiqul Alam said, the suggestion that the current pre-election period reflects an alarming breakdown in security is difficult to sustain.

He further said that the difference between TIB’s figures and official data does not indicate a cover-up. “It is a disagreement over how deaths are classified. 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.”

By contrast, he said, the government counts only deaths with direct and provable links to electoral activity. “Treating these approaches as equivalent distorts public understanding and inflates perceptions of insecurity.”

“Let’s be clear: public security is not in perfect shape. 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,” Shafiqul Alam said.

Since taking office, he 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 the policing of assemblies and the electoral period.