In defiance of the state’s neglect and growing militant influence, ordinary students in Dhaka took the initiative to honour the fallen police officers who were killed during the brutal terrorist attack on Holey Artisan Bakery on July 1, 2016.
With no official commemoration organised this year at the historic siteโnow under the symbolic occupation of reactionary forcesโthe studentsโ spontaneous program has drawn significant public attention.
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Itโs worth noting that the 2016 attack claimed the lives of 20 innocent people, including two brave officers who rushed in to save hostages: ASP Rabiul Karim of the Detective Branch and OC Salauddin of Banani Police Station. A memorial sculpture titled โDeepto Shapathโ (Radiant Oath) was erected in their memory at the Gulshan site.
However, on August 6, 2024, that sculpture was demolished, and posters of the banned militant group Hizb ut-Tahrir were hung in its place. Nearly a year later, the memorial has yet to be restored.
The High Courtโs decision to commute the sentences of the murderers who unleashed a flood of blood at the eatery to life imprisonment has exposed the face of the law and order of this country for the last 10 months. The death sentences of โjihadiโ terrorists convicted of 22 brutal murders were commuted.
In the grisly attack, the victims included 17 foreign nationals: nine Italian citizens, seven Japanese, one Indian, one Bangladeshi-American dual citizen, two Bangladeshis, and two police officers.
The Awami League has condemned the latest verdict that commuted the sentences. Party President and five-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently said Yunus should be ashamed of visiting Japan as he continues to patronise the Islamists and jihadists to cling to power.
Since capturing power, Yunus has released top extremist leaders like Jasimuddin Rahmani and several hundred others, has not arrested any of the militants who escaped prisons since the July riots, and released hundreds of radicals of Jamaat-e-Islami, Hefazat-e-Islami, as well as a convicted war criminal.
Recently, all the accused in the Bogura Shia mosque attack case were acquitted. The muezzin was killed, and 10-12 people were injured as a suicide bomber of the Islamic State carried out the attack on November 26, 2015, seven months before the Gulshan carnage.
The Holey Artisan attack was a planned massacre to put Bangladesh on the international terrorism map. And today, the Yunus Gang is protecting the masterminds of that attack. The real goal is to sustain Islamic militancy so that the Western world identifies Bangladesh as a โterrorist stateโ. The Yunus-led government is a servant of that agenda.
Tribute to the victims
On the anniversary of the attack, students returned to the desecrated site, placed floral wreaths, and displayed a banner with images of the two martyred officers. They said they organised the tribute themselves because neither the state nor law enforcement had shown any interest.
Student Shahriar Ibrahim said: โThe Holey Artisan attack in 2016 was a cowardly act of terrorism. Two fearless police officers were martyred while resisting that attack. But today, their memorial is in ruins, and the police remain silent. If weโre given permission, weโll rebuild the monument ourselves.โ
He added: โIf the police want, we only need a month to rebuild the site, because these officers are our inspiration. Our goal is to ensure that their sacrifice is not forgotten.โ
Meanwhile, current Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sheikh Md Sajjat Ali, when asked about the attack, said: โThere are no militants in Bangladesh todayโonly muggers. The previous government staged militant dramas to kill young people.โ
His remarks stunned analysts, as investigations confirmed that the Holey Artisan attack was carried out by the local Neo-JMB militant group.
Students expressed concern over this kind of negligence in state responsibilities. Despite the appearance of militant propaganda from a banned outfit at the site, no legal action has been taken.
Civil society voices say this cultural and ideological breakdown has become more visible since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government and the rise of the unelected interim administration led by Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus.
Security analysts warn that while past governments conducted strong and effective anti-terror operations, the recent shift in law enforcementโs outlook could once again push the country toward extremism.
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