Seven candidates running with the “sheaf of paddy” electoral symbol were attacked allegedly by ruling party men yesterday while 130 supporters of the Awami League and the BNP were injured across the country in polls violence.

In Khagrachhari, minutes after a campaign office was attacked about a kilometre away, two people were shot dead at a market in Panchhari upazila in broad daylight. It could not be confirmed immediately whether the killings were election related.

Late last night in Nawabganj of Dhaka-1 constituency, at least 12 journalists were injured when they were attacked by masked men at a guest house.

BNP candidates Moudud Ahmed was attacked in Noakhali-5, Miah Nuruddin Apu in Shariatpur-3, Shaheed Uddin Chowdhury Annie in Lakshmipur-3, Lutfar Rahman Khan Azad in Tangail-3, Sabina Yesmin Chhobi in Natore-2, Sunsila Jabrin Priyanka in Sherpur-1, and 20-party candidate Monir Hossain was attacked in Narayanganj-4, reports our correspondents.

Annie and Apu were hurt in the attacks.

A clash erupted between supporters of Annie and AL men at Shantirhat Bazar area of Lakshmipur Sadar. Annie and around 25 BNP and 10 AL men were wounded.

Kushakhali union parishad AL President Nurul Amin said that it was the BNP men who attacked the AL supporters.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abul Kalam Azad of Chandraganj Police Station said law enforcers went to the spot and fired shots in the air to disperse the feuding groups. He claimed that two policemen were injured.

In Potti area of Shariatpur's Goshairhat upazila, Apu and 25 of his supporters were injured when attacked by allegedly AL men.

Syed Nasir Uddin, general secretary of Goshairhat AL, claimed that ruling party men were not involved and speculated that it could have been the result of BNP's internal conflict.

Moudud in a press conference yesterday alleged that AL men carried out the attack in Notun Bazar area of Kompaniganj. Five of his supporters were injured and two vehicles were vandalised in the incident.

Noakhali AL organising secretary Mizanur Rahman in a separate press conference at Kompaniganj claimed that Moudud was lying to get favours from the administration.

Kompaniganj OC said he did not know about any attack on Moudud.

An Awami League activist, who came under attack allegedly by BNP men, being treated at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barishal. Photo: Collected/Star

At least five BNP men were injured when alleged AL men attacked BNP candidate Chhobi and her supporters when they were campaigning in Tebaria Bazar area of Natore.

Natore AL Joint Secretary Mortuja Ali said they did not know anything about the attack.

Abul Hasnat, additional superintendent of police (sadar circle) of the district, said law enforcers went to the spot and brought the situation under control.

BNP candidate Priyanka yesterday alleged that 19 of her supporters were injured when AL men attacked them in Ghughurkandi Bazar area of Sherpur.

AL candidate of the same constituency Atiur Rahman Atik claimed that it was the AL men who were attacked by BNP supporters.

OC of Sherpur Sadar Police Station said a running battle was fought by the two groups but no one filed any complaints.

Around 10 BNP men were injured and a vehicle was vandalised when the motorcade of BNP leader Lutfar was attacked allegedly by AL men in Atharodana area of Tangail's Ghatail upazila.

Dilruba Ahmed, assistant returning officer and UNO of Ghatail, said she had sent police to the spot after hearing the news of trouble.

Shahidul Islam, coordinator of the local AL candidate's campaigning team, denied the allegation of AL men's involvement and said the BNP candidate was spreading rumours to tarnish the image of his party candidate.

In Narayanganj, alleged AL men attacked Monir Hossain when he was campaigning near the main gate of Rupayan Residential Area in Fatullah upazila.

Narayanganj city AL Joint Secretary Sha Nizam said no AL men attacked Monir.

Mohammad Shajalal, inspector (investigation) of Fatullah Model Police Station, said he did not get any complaints.

Meanwhile, in Narsingdi, two people beat up Bahauddin Milton, personal secretary to BNP standing committee member and party nominee for Narsingdi-3 Abdul Moin Khan on Palash upazila nirbahi officer's office premises around 12:30pm.

In Pabna, at least 10 people were injured when AL and BNP men clashed over electioneering in Sagarkandi Bazar area of Sujanagar around noon.

Miah Nuruddin Apu, BNP contender for Shariatpur-3, injured in an attack by alleged ruling party men, receives treatment at a local hospital. Photo: Collected/Star

In Chandpur, another 10 were injured in a clash between supporters of he AL and the BNP in Haimchar upazila.

In Barishal, 10 AL men were injured in an attack allegedly carried out by BNP men in Pouroshavar More area in Banaripara upazila.

So far, motorcades and campaigns of at least 45 candidates of Jatiya Oikyafront and 20-party alliance have been attacked allegedly by AL men, according to media reports. Over 1,050 people, mostly BNP men, have been injured in the electoral violence since campaigning began on December 10.   

The army was deployed across the country yesterday to help ensure a peaceful atmosphere and maintain law and order for the December 30 polls.

Our correspondents in Chattogram, Mymensingh, and Jhenidah reported that Jatiya Oikyafront candidates and their supporters were gearing up their campaign activities after the army was deployed.

KHAGRACHHARI

Minutes after the election camp of Nutan Kumar Chakma, an independent candidate backed by United People's Democratic Front (UPDF), was vandalised and torched, gunmen opened fire at Pujgang Mukh Bazaar just a kilometre away.

Chikko Chakma, 24, a tea-stall owner from Lendia para, and Sohel Rana, 35, a road construction worker of Dohazari in Chattagram, were killed.

The UPDF claimed that Chikko was its supporter and in a statement to the press alleged that the attacks were carried out to “unleash a reign of terror in the hills and influence the polls by panicking people”.

The UPDF blamed Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samity (reformist) for the killings and the attack on the election camp.

Tawhidul Islam, assistant returning officer and the UNO of Panchhari upazila, said regional groups trying to establish supremacy was the reason for the gun attack.

He told The Daily Star that the incident was not related to the upcoming polls. “I am not aware of any vandalism or torching of any camp in another area since I only visited the place of the gun attack.”

Locals said seven to eight armed men went to market around noon and shot Chikko from close range killing him on the spot. Sohel, who was working on the road nearby, was shot during that time and he died of his injuries later.

Minutes before the shooting, another group of 10 to 15 men, some carrying firearms, attacked the election camp and torched it. They fired several shots during the incident, said a local wishing anonymity.

Nurul Alam, officer-in-charge of Panchhari Police Station, claimed that the killings were not related to the election. He said it was due to conflict between groups.

The OC said police reaching the spot found nobody there. They recovered the bodies from the scene.

Conflicts of regional political parties led to 43 people being killed in Khagrachhari and Rangamati in one year.

JOURNOS ATTACKED

About 12 journalists covering the election and campaigns were injured and 16 vehicles they were using were vandalised in Nawabganj when unidentified criminals attacked them at a guest house close to the Nawabganj Police Station.

At least 40 journalists and support staffers of Jamuna TV and Bangla daily Jugantor were staying at Shamim Guest House in Kolakopa Bandura area, said Jugantor's Senior Reporter Sirajul Islam.

He said around 10:30pm, 30 to 35 people covering their faces with scarfs stormed the guest house and attacked the journalists and staffers of Jamuna TV and its sister concern Jugantor.

In the 20-minute attack, they ransacked several rooms on the third floor and later vandalised about 16 parked vehicles, he said.

He claimed that the journalists were confined to the guest house and that Shamim Khan, Dhamrai correspondent of Jugantor, was missing since the incident.

Sushant Sinha, special correspondent of Jamuna TV, echoed Sirajul. Sinha, who was at the guest house, said they called the local UNO and the OC for help which did not arrive.

Jugantor staff reporter Yasin said the attackers were armed with iron rods, hockey sticks, and sharp weapons.

The Daily Star called the superintendent of police of Dhaka and the OC of Nawabganj Police Station for comments but they did not pick up their phones.

Quamrul Hasan, sub-inspector of Nawabganj Police Station, was seen on Jamuna TV to have arrived at the scene later to collect evidence and was heard saying that they would look into the matter.

In the run-up to the national election, the international community is showing increasing interest in Bangladesh, which is due to the prevailing geopolitical landscape as well as its prospect of becoming a larger economy in the coming years. The country is going to graduate from the Least Developed Country (LDC) to the Developing Country category in 2026 by fulfilling the criteria based on per capita income, human asset index, and economic vulnerability index. It is currently implementing Sustainable Development Goals and has made progress in many areas compared to its peers.

Bangladesh's economic success has been due to its relatively steady growth compared to many developing countries. In the pre-Covid era, the average growth of the economy was over six percent for about a decade. But starting in early 2020 and after the Ukraine war in February 2022, the economy experienced some dampening, leading to slower growth. Still, while in FY2020 the GDP growth was 3.45 percent, it went up to 6.03 percent during FY2023. With accelerated growth, there has also been social progress. The poverty rate has declined, and so have child and maternal mortality, while life expectancy has increased. Bangladesh now aspires to be an upper middle-income country by 2031 and a developed country by 2041.

Read more

Are individual districts falling behind, while Bangladesh develops as a whole?

Often, the growth story is linked to the so-called stability narrative. It is claimed that since there are no political disturbances from opposition parties, the government could succeed in navigating the country forward.

Ironically, under the shadow of stability, the quality of economics and politics has been compromised. Economic growth has not been coupled with the expected outcomes. Urgent issues such as job creation for the youth, domestic resource mobilisation, efficient public expenditure, and higher private investment need more attention. Inequality continues to rise. The latest Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2022 reveals that the Gini coefficient has increased. This implies that the rise in per capita income has not been distributed evenly across the population. And shocks such as the pandemic, natural disasters and inflationary pressure continue to push poor and low-income households further behind.

The manifestation of inequality is the fast-growing number of the superrich in Bangladesh. Wealth creation is good but only with an even distribution. Moreover, not all of this wealth is earned, as the wealthy include loan defaulters, beneficiaries of undue government support, and rentseekers.

Higher growth has also not created enough jobs. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2022 indicates that average unemployment has declined from 4.2 percent in 2016-17 to 3.6 percent in 2022. But the definition of unemployment is based on the conventional definition of the International Labour Organization's (ILO) unrealistic benchmark, which considers a person employed if that person has worked even an hour in a week. Moreover, unemployment among the young population is much higher than the national average. The LFS 2022 has not revealed the youth unemployment rate yet. However, the youth unemployment rate was 10.6 percent in the LFS 2016-17.

Read more

‘Louha tribhuj’ and the political economy of development

Despite stability, private investment has not been energised for long. And stability has not reduced unpredictability. On average, private investment has been hovering around 24 percent of GDP, which is inadequate for a growing economy. Due to low domestic private investment, there is slow foreign direct investment (FDI). Despite the fact that the government has been trying to attract FDI through favourable policies, there is still a lack of enthusiasm. Though Bangladesh is a growing economy, and the market size is expected to grow, it is yet to become a production hub for international manufacturers. The government has allocated land for special economic zones to both private and foreign investors, but the progress has generally been slow. Ease of doing business must be ensured by improving infrastructure, removing red-tapism, ensuring policy clarity, adopting technology, and improving human resource quality.

Stability has protected the nexus between capital and political power. Massive conflicts of interest prevail in the system since many policymakers have stakes in fiscal, monetary, trade and other sectoral policies. Many in the periphery of political power have also been rehabilitated and rewarded. Hence, they do not want any changes (or disturbances) in this stability. Of course, democracy would require accounting of all unearned money and transparency of public expenditure.

The unique location in the Bay of Bengal, coupled with its economic rise, has increased Bangladesh's importance in the region. Our stability has been supported by some international partners. As such, Bangladesh has been conducting a balancing act between two competing countries, China and India, quite well. Both China and India are important trading partners and have provided us with loans of various sizes. Naturally, they have an active interest in Bangladesh.

Read more

Five concerns that the FY2024 budget fails to address

Bangladesh's geographical position has also increased its geostrategic significance for the US as the latter aims to contain Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region. The current US position is to deal with Bangladesh-related issues through the prism of India. Stability is important for the US, too, but not at the cost of democracy. The US has made this clear in its recent policies, which have been geared towards promoting democracy in Bangladesh.

Additionally, the EU Election Exploratory Mission is currently visiting Bangladesh. They will undertake an assessment of the political environment and electoral framework, in close partnership and consultation with all stakeholders.

These developed countries are important stakeholders as Bangladesh's economy is connected to them through trade, remittances, investment, education, science and technology, and much more. Therefore, it is natural that they would have a keen interest in Bangladesh's politics and election administration.

But, ideally, this should not have been the case. Bangladesh should have been capable of holding an acceptable, high-quality national election on its own. Unfortunately, the credibility of the past two general elections has been questioned. The stability of power has probably been consolidated, but democracy has weakened. A transition to democracy and the nurturing of the democratic process will be painful and difficult. And the upcoming polls will be a test for Bangladesh to prove its capability and willingness to hold a high-quality election that will not be questioned within or outside the country. A democratic culture is crucial for sustaining the economic growth the country has achieved so far, and for distributing the benefits of this growth among all citizens of the country.

Dr Fahmida Khatun is executive director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and non-resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council. Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

BNP Vice-Chairman Abdullah Al Noman today claimed that ruling party men attacked his Victory Day procession in Chattogram city’s Halishahar.

“We were on our Victory Day procession in Nayabazar. Suddenly, some youths attacked us with sticks and machetes,” he said at a press conference.

“One of them wielded a gun. I witnessed it myself,” he said. “We were not campaigning. It was just a Victory Day march. They won’t even let us do it.”

“Police stood there and did nothing,” he alleged; adding that Ershadul Amin, brother of AL candidate Afsarul Amin Chowdhury, led the attack.

SM Obaidul Haque, officer-in-charge (OC) of Halishahar Police Station, said there was no such incident. “Two rallies of BNP and AL crossed paths. We diverted them. No clash took place.”

The Daily Star correspondent failed to contact Ershadul Amin despite repeated attempts.    

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said Awami League never used the backdoor for grabbing power, rather it always assumes state power through elections.

"Awami League (AL) always assumes power through elections. It never grabbed power using the backdoor as AL is not an organisation that was created from the pocket of any military dictator," she said.

Sheikh Hasina, also the president of ruling party Awami League, made these remarks while delivering her introductory speech in the meeting of Awami League Central Working Committee (ALCWC). She chaired the meeting held at her official residence Gono Bhaban.

She said the development of the election process has been made by the Awami League government as transparent ballot box, voter list with picture and EVM were the demand of her party to ensure the voting rights of masses.

"We want that people can apply their voting rights . . . if people don't vote for us, we wouldn't come to power," she said, adding that AL was always kept aside from power through conspiracy repeatedly.

Mentioning that AL is the party of the land and the masses, she said this party always works for the welfare of the masses.

The prime minister thanked the people of the country for putting Awami League in power repeatedly by casting their votes in favour of the party.

"Due to this, the country witnessed huge development in the last 13 years, the living standard of the people has been increased as AL is the party of people and soil of this country," she said.