Govt challenges TIB report on election-related killings, cites lack of context
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, says the Chief Adviser's Press Wing.
The interim government has disputed a recent report by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on election-related killings, urging that the figures be examined with context and care rather than repeated without scrutiny.
"Transparency International Bangladesh says that 15 political leaders and activists were killed in the 36 days following the announcement of the election schedule… But it deserves scrutiny, not blind repetition," the Chief Adviser's Press Wing said today (8 February).
"Police records show that only five killings during this period can be directly linked to political profile or activity. One of them was the cold-blooded murder of Osman Hadi, shot dead by gunmen on a motorcycle."
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The Press Wing said what is missing from TIB's presentation is context, adding that political violence around elections is not new in Bangladesh.
"In the sham elections of 2024, six people were killed. In the nighttime elections of 2018, 22 people lost their lives. In the officially rigged 2014 polls, political violence claimed at least 115 lives," it added.
"The difference between TIB's figures and the official data is not 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.
"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."
However, the Press Wing acknowledged that public security is not in perfect shape.
It 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.
"Security forces are under close scrutiny, political parties and civil society are cooperating, and international observers are on the ground. Together, these conditions give real reason to believe that this election can finally end the cycle of fear and violence that defined previous elections."
