Last Updated on November 12, 2026 7:20 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
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Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
Bangladesh’s political fault lines widened Thursday (November 12) as a lawmaker’s family home burned overnight, rival factions of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) exchanged gunfire and garment workers blocked a major highway, even as parliament hardened its stand against exiled former PM Sheikh Hasina.
Five rooms at National Citizen Party (NCP) MP Nusrat Tabassum’s ancestral property in Kushtia were gutted shortly after midnight. Two goats died, but police reported no confirmed human casualties. The lawmaker alleged a petrol-bomb attack and the NCP blamed Awami League supporters. Police said neither the cause nor the perpetrators had been established.
“If you think you can silence my voice this way, you are mistaken,” Tabassum wrote on Facebook.
In Munshiganj, clashes between rival BNP groups over influence ahead of local elections injured 10 people, five of them shot, from late Wednesday into Thursday morning. Crude bombs were also thrown at a police vehicle, officers said.
Fresh labour protests disrupted Bangladesh’s export-driven garment industry Thursday. Workers seeking a 30,000-taka monthly minimum wage blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway in Gazipur. Police used sound grenades to clear the route; several factories declared holidays, while two Konabari garment factories announced indefinite closures. The unrest follows production suspensions at around 146 factories on Tuesday.
In parliament on Wednesday, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed ruled out a political comeback for Hasina’s banned Awami League, comparing its prospects with those of Germany’s Nazis after World War II. He urged parties to unite against alleged attempts to destabilise Bangladesh. Opposition lawmakers have challenged the government over deteriorating security.
Hasina, who fled to India after the 2024 uprising, says she wants to return in December and surrender before a court. Sentenced to death in absentia in 2025 over the crackdown on protesters, she denies wrongdoing. Her lawyers have sought a fresh passport and identity card, but Dhaka insists her return be pursued through its extradition treaty with India.
The BNP has instructed grassroots leaders to maintain a street presence amid the attacks, accusing Awami League supporters of fomenting unrest, a claim not established for individual incidents.
Meanwhile, PM Tarique Rahman, attending the COP31 climate summit in Türkiye, urged richer nations to devote at least half of international climate finance to adaptation. “Climate-vulnerable countries need grants, not more loans,” he said.