Dhaka: Bangladesh continues to grapple with escalating violence and unrest, as exiled writer and activist Taslima Nasreen offers a stark perspective on the chaos gripping the nation.
In a pointed post on X on Wednesday, Nasreen argued that the turmoil is not rooted in political rivalries between the Awami League and BNP, nor in personal clashes between former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and interim Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.
Instead, she framed the conflict as a profound ideological battle between secularism and religious fanaticism, rationalism and extremism, progressivism and reactionism, truth and falsehood, light and darkness, civilisation and barbarism, humanity and cruelty, and free thought and superstition. “The country has long been burning in a fire of discontent,” she wrote, emphasising a struggle between those pushing forward and those pulling backward.
The recent wave of violence has intensified public anxiety. On December 12, youth leader Sharif Usman Hadi was shot by masked assailants during an election campaign in Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area and died on December 18 in Singapore. The mob attacked and lynched Hindu youth Dipu Chandra Das that same night. Protests after Hadi’s death led to attacks on media offices, cultural centres, and political buildings.
On December 24, a bomb blast in Dhaka’s Mogabazar area claimed one life and injured several others, heightening panic.
As Bangladesh remains in a fragile state months after Hasina’s ouster and Yunus’s rise to power, Nasreen’s analysis underscores deep-seated societal tensions amid ongoing calls for stability ahead of future elections.