Brutality at its worst, on full display

It is difficult to understand the viciousness that we witnessed during last week's New Market clashes, and why it continued for as long as it did. What was especially troubling was the nature of the attack against 19-year-old Nahid Mia, who was killed while on his way to work. The men who did this have primarily, and unsurprisingly, been identified as members of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). Video footage of the gruesome attack shows a motionless Nahid lying on the ground, seemingly dead already, being indiscriminately hacked with a machete by a young man wearing a black helmet. Officials of the Detective Branch of police have identified him as Zakir, a BCL activist.

A post-mortem examination revealed that nearly every inch of Nahid's body bore injury marks. The level of insanity that led to someone being murdered like this is unfathomable. And it wasn't just one BCL activist who was involved in the violence. According to various witnesses, Dhaka College students led by three BCL factions took part in the clashes with New Market shopkeepers that eventually led to Nahid's death. The question is: Who are these people bearing the banner of the ruling party's student wing? If they didn't belong to the ruling party, they would never have had the courage to do something like this. It was clear from the footage that the attackers didn't care whether Nahid lived or died, even though he was engaged neither in politics nor with the shopkeepers.

Now that investigations have revealed BCL's involvement, it makes sense why the police didn't go in immediately and stop the violence. We have seen BCL members using such violent tactics—wearing biker helmets and wielding sticks, machetes and other weapons—against students demanding safer roads, while police idly stood by. If instruction from the ruling party is that police shouldn't interfere when BCL is involved, it can only lead to building resentment among the public. By allowing BCL to repeatedly resort to such violence, what message is the party giving us? That BCL can get away with anything?

We have no idea what benefit the ruling party thinks it's getting from the atrocities of its student activists, but as far as we can tell, it has led to seething anger among the people while tarnishing the country's image in front of the world. We call on the authorities to immediately arrest and punish those involved in the New Market violence, including those responsible for Nahid's murder. And we once again ask the ruling party to seriously reconsider the repercussions of its actions that have allowed for its activists to become like this.