No proof of India entry, but Dhaka asks Delhi to arrest politician's shooters

A day after crucial elections were announced in Bangladesh, a deadly attack on Friday shook the capital, Dhaka. Three assailants on three motorcycles, opened fire in broad daylight. The target was anti-India radical leader Sharif Osman Hadi, the spokesperson of the Anti-Sheikh Hasina Inqilab Manch, and an independent candidate from Dhaka-8. Hadi was shot in his head and is reportedly in a coma. He could be sent to a foreign country for treatment.

Days later, on Sunday, Muhammad Yunus's interim administration urged India to arrest and hand over the attackers, even as the Dhaka Metropolitan Police said there was no verified evidence that the shooters had crossed into India.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Sunday said "there is no verified evidence that the attackers... have crossed into India", reported Dhaka-based TV channel, Jagonews24.

Deputy Commissioner of the DMP Muhammad Talebur Rahman said that multiple teams, including the Detective Branch, are tracking several leads. "At this stage, we have no confirmed information indicating any suspect has left the country," he was quoted as saying by Jagonews24.

Earlier, a Qatar-based journalist claimed on Facebook that two alleged suspects (one of them being a former Chhatra League leader), crossed into India on December 12 and were currently in Assam's Guwahati.

The Chhatra League is the student wing of Hasina's Awami League, which the Yunus administration banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The law-and-order situation in Bangladesh remains unstable, with political killings and attacks on key institutions like Yunus' Grameen Bank. Even BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, whose mother and former PM Khaleda Zia is battling for life, is unable to return from exile due to "uncontrollable factors".

New Delhi said it expected Dhaka's "interim government" to take all required steps to maintain internal law and order.

DHAKA SUMMONS INDIAN AMBASSADOR, SEEKS HELP TO NAB SHOOTERS

On Sunday morning, the Yunus administration's foreign ministry summoned Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Pranay Verma, and urged New Delhi to arrest and hand over the attackers involved in the assault on Sharif Osman Hadi if they entered Indian territory, reported Dhaka-based English daily, the Daily Sun.

During the meeting, Bangladesh also conveyed the interim administration's concerns over what it described as continued provocative statements by ousted PM Sheikh Hasina, who is currently residing "happily" in India.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Indian High Commissioner today to convey the Government of Bangladesh's serious concern to the Government of India for allowing fugitive Sheikh Hasina to continue to make incendiary statements calling upon her supporters to engage in terrorist activities in Bangladesh, aiming to thwart the upcoming parliamentary elections," the Bangladesh foreign office was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

INDIA ASKS DHAKA TO BEEF UP LAW AND ORDER AS VIOLENCE GRIPS BANGLADESH BEFORE POLLS

Soon after, New Delhi dismissed the allegations, reiterating that India had never allowed its territory to be used for activities hostile to the interests of the friendly people of Bangladesh. India's foreign ministry also said that it expected that "the interim government of Bangladesh will take all necessary measures for ensuring internal law and order, including for the purpose of holding peaceful elections", news agency PTI reported.

Apart from the Qatar-based journalist, who on Facebook claimed that two alleged suspects crossed into India, some Bangladeshi news outlets also reported the same.

The political and law-and-order situation in Bangladesh remains highly unstable, marked by political killings and crude bomb attacks across Dhaka, targeting the administration's establishments.

There have been a spate of political killings involving members of the Bangladesh ist Party (BNP), the Jamaat-e-Islami, and the students-led NCP, among other outfits.

In November, attackers exploded improvised bombs outside the head office of Yunus' Grameen Bank. The BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, a frontrunner in the elections, remains abroad even as his mother, former prime minister Khaleda Zia, is critically ill, citing "uncontrollable factors" which experts say involve concerns about his security. This climate of violence and uncertainty has stoked fears over law and order and cast a shadow on the prospects of a peaceful, fair election, promised by Yunus administration in February 2026.

"When a visible political voice is attacked in broad daylight, right as the election season heats up, it is never only about that person. It is about fear, control, and the message it sends to everyone else," wrote Asif Bin Ali, a documentary maker and journalist turned academic, in an op-ed piece in the Dhaka Tribune.

"So the question comes back to the state. Where was the state, and where is it now?... After the [Hasina] government fell... Bangladesh entered a long transition.... Dr Muhammad Yunus took oath as Chief Adviser... Many people hoped this would mean a return of stability, a break from the cycle of fear, a credible election, and a clean transfer of power to an elected government. Instead, the public has repeatedly heard reassurance while repeatedly seeing uncertainty on the ground. An attack like this, in daylight, the day after the schedule announcement, exposes that gap in the harshest way," he added.

Khaled Saifullah, the Joint Convenor of the students' Bangladesh's Citizen Party (NCP), days before the shooting incident in Dhaka, told news agency ANI, "We have recently seen violence break out in Chittagong where a BNP leader was attacked. What would really ensure a free and fair election is that the government is very serious about the law and order situation... If you look at the history of Bangladesh, political violence has been there. It becomes more acute when the elections come around..."

WHO IS SHARIF OSMAN HADI, ANTI-HASINA RADICAL, FIGHTING FOR LIFE?

Sharif Osman Hadi, a spokesperson of the Inquilab Mancha and a vocal anti-India and anti-Hasina activist, is fighting for his life after the attack.

"He [Hadi] gathered attention and supporters, partly because he presented himself as a sharp anti-India voice and because he positioned himself against anything he believed was tied to the Awami League or pro-India politics," wrote Asif Bin Ali in the Dhaka Tribune.

According to some reports, Hadi had recently released a map of a "Greater Bangladesh" that included parts of Indian territory.

Hadi, is an independent candidate from the Dhaka-8 seat. Bangladeshi outlets say Hadi has long positioned himself against the Awami League and pro-India politics. This, along with his sharp, often controversial language, has got him attention.

Hadi and the Inquilab Mancha have repeatedly called for the Awami League to be banned "constitutionally" from politics.

Not just the Awami League, Hadi has been openly critical of other major parties, including the Bangladesh ist Party (BNP). He has said that if it returned to power with "old-style" politics, it would not last even two years.

Now in critical care in Dhaka's Evercare Hospital, where severely ailing former PM Khaleda Zia is also admitted, Hadi's attack has heightened anxiety in Bangladesh's fragile pre-election climate.

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