Civil society slams Yunus government for police brutality, mob culture

The Ganatantrik Odhikar Committee, a pro-government civil society group, has criticised the Yunus-led interim government for its failure to protect the minority Hindus of Jashore and elsewhere and fascist attacks on women by creating mobs.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the committee also condemned police action on the garment workers, who were staging demonstrations demanding their dues and the suicide of a worker.

At least 20 workers were injured in the brutal attack on the RMG workers. “The committee believes that these incidents reveal the government’s insensitivity to labour issues.”

The statement also criticised the budget proposed for the 2025-26 fiscal year, as it allocates the minimum allocation for workers.

The committee demanded that the interim government immediately make detailed accounts of all budget projects and operating expenses available to the public.

Among other issues, the committee in its executive meeting at the Ducsu cafeteria on Tuesday condemned the death of Bom community member Songmoy Bom in prison.

“The brutal death is not just an example of individual negligence—it is part of a larger and well-planned framework through which the state is conducting an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Bom population.”

This campaign of cleansing is being carried out with direct state support, with the active cooperation of state institutions, and in the name of the “counter-terrorism” campaign, the committee added.

They also protested attacks and harassment of women across the country, and the interim government’s mismanagement of Chittagong Port.

Prof Anu Muhammad presided over the meeting, which was attended, among others, by lawyer Manzoor-al-Matin, artist Bithi Ghosh, women’s leader and organiser Seema Dutta, activists Marzia Prova and Kaushik Ahmed, poet Ferdous Ara Rumi, researcher Sujit Chowdhury and Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, Dr Harun Or Rashid, Dhaka University teacher Dr Samina Lutfa, organiser Abdullah Kafi Ratan, Anis Raihan, labour leader Satyajit Biswas, Iqbal Kabir, student leader Dilip Roy, Rafiquzzaman Farid, and Tamjid Haider.