Home adviser Jahangir Alam Chowdhury should resign to protect public confidence in Bangladesh’s security institutions and the country’s election path after the killing of Inqilab Moncho convenor Sharif Osman bin Hadi and the violence that followed. If he will not step aside, interim chief adviser Muhammad Yunus should remove him.
A coalition of 16 citizen organizations has already demanded Chowdhury’s resignation, blaming “failure” in the wake of Hadi’s murder and a worsening law-and-order situation. The groups called for a fair probe, accountability for perpetrators, and protection of lives and property ahead of the general election.
Hadi was shot a day after the parliamentary election schedule was announced on Dec. 11 and later died in Singapore on Dec. 18, according to the coalition’s statement. His death was followed by vandalism and arson, and the statement also cited attacks on media, the cultural institution Chhayanaut, an assault on New Age editor Nurul Kabir, and attempts to attack the Indian High Commission.
But the most disqualifying failure is not only what authorities did not prevent, it is what Chowdhury is accused of urging police to do. According to The Daily Star’s reporting and editorial board, he told the Narayanganj superintendent of police: “Whether there is a case or not against an Awami League criminal is irrelevant. You must immediately bring them under law. Failure to do so will result in action against you.
That directive cuts against due process and risks turning law enforcement into a tool of presumption rather than evidence. Even if the goal is to curb violence and bring offenders to justice, ordering arrests “whether there is a case or not” invites abuse, contaminates investigations, and deepens fear at the very moment the interim government says it is trying to restore rule-bound governance.
Chowdhury can still do the right thing: resign and let Yunus appoint leadership that can enforce security without weakening legality. If he refuses, Yunus should act decisively, because a transition cannot be credible if public safety collapses and the government’s own home adviser is seen as undermining the legal safeguards that distinguish justice from retaliation.