 "Bangladesh in turmoil: Conflicting claims put army’s role under scrutiny after deadly Gopalganj clashes")
On Wednesday, chaos ensued in former Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina’s home in Gopalganj, with two conflicting stories on what actually happened. While Bangladeshi media reported that four people were killed in the clashes, human rights groups and workers of Hasina’s party, Awami League, claimed that the death toll is nearly 21.
It all happened when Nahid Islam's National Citizens Party (NCP) conducted a rally in Gopalgunj on Wednesday afternoon. As per Bangladeshi news outlets and NCP, the party’s convoy was attacked at 2:30 pm (local time).
However, the opposition argued that “goons” from the NCP were creating a ruckus, and the residents only resisted. However, one thing that garnered attention in the whole ordeal was the army’s intervention. While some called it important, others accused the Bangladeshi army of being biased.
Here’s a look at what the two sides are saying.
Awami League worker accuses NCP and Jamaat of police brutality
While speaking to Firstpost about the Wednesday incident, an Awami League worker, who asked to remain anonymous, narrated the police brutality amid the chaos, he claimed was started by NCP workers. During the conversation, the Awami League worker frequently referred to NCP as “ Jamaat-e-Islami's B-Team”.
“Around 23-24 people were killed. They were professional killers, contract killers. NCP is Jamaat’s B-Team; even people from Jamaat were there. Some of them wore police uniforms,” an anguished Awami League worker told Firstpost.
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View All“They are radicals; they intended to kill people. If this continues, it will lead to civil war,” he added. The party worker also shared multiple videos of police brutality, which he claimed were taking place in Gopalganj. However, Firstpost was unable to independently verify whether the videos were from the Wednesday incident and hence refrained from sharing them.
“They came here to kill people. There were many personnel at the rally, many soldiers from the army and 200 police officers. If things remain the same, people might retaliate, and this can cause further problems in the future,” the Awami League party worker exclaimed.
A similar assertion was made by a group called the International Crimes Research Foundation (ICRF), which even flagged the Gopalganj incident in a letter to the United Nations Ethics Office.
In the letter to the UN Ethical Office, ICRF argued that NCP leaders marched into Gopalganj with thousands of their followers, and the objective of the rally was to desecrate and demolish the graveyard of Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
“On 16 July 2025, a political group known as the Nationalist Citizens Party (NCP), which is neither registered with the Election Commission nor holds any legal status as an Electoral Political Party, marched into Gopalganj with thousands of its followers,” ICRF said in a letter to the UN.
“Their reported objective was to desecrate and demolish the graveyard of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman- a sacred and symbolic national site that holds profound emotional, historical, and political significance for our people,” the letter furthered.
The ICRF noted that while the residents resisted the party workers, the Bangladesh Army deployed forces in support of the NCP. The group accused the country’s army of using lethal weapons to open fire on “unarmed civilians”.
ICRF went on to demand an independent international investigation into the Gopalganj crisis. The group also urged the UN to hold the Bangladesh Army accountable under international law for any violations of human rights, including extrajudicial killings and torture.
What NCP and Bangladeshi authorities are saying
However, the Bangladeshi media and the ruling regime painted a different picture of what went down on Wednesday afternoon. Multiple Bangladeshi news outlets reported that it was the NCP rally that was attacked in Gopalganj and not the other way around.
NCP Convener Nahid Islam demanded the arrest of the culprits at a press conference in Kulna. He claimed that the attacks were carried out to kill him, The Daily Star reported.
“After concluding our rally in Gopalganj, we were heading towards Madaripur when armed goons of the Awami League attacked our motorcade,” Nahid said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’s press wing condemned the “utterly indefensible” attack on leaders and activists of the NCP and said it will not go unpunished. Political parties, including BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, also condemned the attack. However, one whole day has passed, and the authorities maintain that only 4 people were killed in the clashes, which many human rights groups have been calling an underestimation.
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