Youth leader’s funeral prayers held in B’desh capital amid tightened security

Dhaka, Dec 20 (PTI) Bangladesh held the funeral of prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi on Saturday drawing a large number of people in the capital amid extra-tight security after his death triggered unrest across the country.

Interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus along with his advisory council members and Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman attended the funeral for the 32-year-old spokesperson of 'Inqilab Mancha' held at the South Plaza of Parliament complex at Manik Mia Avenue.

Yunus spoke briefly ahead of the janaza (funeral prayers) even as politicians representing former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami and student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) joined the prayers.

The country is also observing a day of state mourning following the death of Hadi, who was one of the prominent leaders of the student-led protests last year, which led to the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government.

A candidate for the scheduled February 12 general elections, Hadi was shot in the head on December 12 by masked gunmen as he initiated his election campaign at central Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area. He died while undergoing treatment in Singapore on Thursday.

According to television footage, the janaza was held after Hadi's body was brought after an autopsy at the state-run Suhrawardy Hospital.

Hadi’s elder brother Abu Bakar conducted the janaza and soon after the ritual, the body was quickly brought to Dhaka University campus under stringent security escorts for burial.

The grave was dug overnight beside the mausoleum of Bangladesh’s national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

“In line with the earlier announcement, the body was not kept for public viewing and only select people were allowed to witness the burial,” a police officer said.

Police allowed tens of thousands of people to join the funeral prayers and ahead of the ritual, who chanted slogans against India like “Delhi or Dhaka – Dhaka, Dhaka” and “brother Hadi’s blood will not be allowed to go in vain.” Violent protests rocked Dhaka and major cities after the announcement of Hadi’s death on Thursday at a Singapore hospital six days after gunmen shot him.

Hadi particularly drew the political limelight launching his radical rightwing cultural group 'Inquilab Mancha' after the last year’s violent street campaign, dubbed July Uprising, led by Students Against Discrimination (SAD) campaign toppled then prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, 2024.

Three days after Hasina fled to India, Yunus assumed the charge of the interim government as the SAD nominee on August 8.

Hadi was waging a campaign along with SAD and several rightwing groups demanding Hasina’s return to be exposed to gallows after a special Bangladeshi tribunal sentenced her to death for her crackdown of the uprising using brutal force.

In Dhaka, a large number of law enforcement personnel have been deployed in and around the Parliament complex, and a tight security cordon has been imposed across the entire area, according to the Dhaka Tribune newspaper.

The government has also imposed a ban on flying drones in the area, and those wishing to attend the funeral were asked not to carry any bags or heavy objects, it said.

Various parts of the country were rocked Thursday night by attacks and vandalism, including stone-hurling at the Assistant Indian High Commissioner's residence in Chattogram, attacks on offices of leading newspapers, and vandalism at Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, soon after Yunus confirmed Hadi's death.

The interim government on Friday urged citizens to resist violence by “fringe elements” as Hadi's body arrived here from Singapore, amid fresh unrest in the capital.

Police said alleged radical right-wing activists set fire to the main office of the left-leaning Udichi Shilpigoshthi in the capital shortly after Hadi’s body arrived in Dhaka from Singapore. PTI AR RD GRS NPK NPK