Tensions are boiling over in Bangladesh ahead of the contentious February 12 elections, with another political assassination attempt rocking the capital. Mohammad Hasan Molla, a prominent BNP official from Keraniganj’s Hazratpur Union, became the latest victim when assailants on a motorcycle shot him Thursday evening.
The 45-year-old general secretary was walking home in the Keraniganj neighborhood when the attackers struck around 11 PM. A single bullet pierced his right abdominal side, causing severe injuries. Family members whisked him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he remains in the ICU fighting for his life.
Eyewitness accounts from his brother Rakeeb paint a picture of cold-blooded ambush. ‘They came on a bike, fired, and fled. We rushed him to emergency,’ Rakeeb said. Hospital police outpost chief Inspector Mohammad Faruk verified the details, noting the wound’s location and that a formal complaint was lodged with Keraniganj police.
The incident underscores a pattern of escalating violence plaguing the election run-up. Islamist hardliner Anwar Ullah, 65, was slain at home only days ago. On January 8, BNP’s Jubo Dal activist Yanul Hossain, 31, met a similar fate in Joypurhat, his young brother wounded beside him.
Opposition parties decry a climate of fear, with minorities facing heightened attacks and political rivals being silenced by bullets. The BNP’s election boycott amplifies cries of rigged polls under the Awami League government. International observers warn that unchecked violence could derail the democratic process entirely, leaving Bangladesh at a perilous crossroads.