Bangladesh : sixteen yearold Salma Akhtar succumbs to burn injuries, Hindu youth lynched to death as Tarique grapples with realities

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, December 26, 2025

Even as newly arrived Tarique Rahaman , son and heir-apparent of former prime minister and BNP chairperson Begum Zia, is taking baby steps to grapple with the new political realities of Bangladesh after descending on Dhaka yesterday from his exile in London, the grim realities of the Islamic cauldron continue to stare him in the face . Shortly after arriving in Dhaka yesterday Tarique Rahaman delivered a stirring speech in the party headquarter , calling for unity of people and discipline in the ranks-the call for unity being interpreted as a remote and feeble appeal to stop targeting of minorities by his co-religionists. But in the new Bangladesh that he had left way back in 2008, Tarique confronts the challenge posed by his long-time ally, the fundamentalist and cash-rich Jamat-e-Islami that has been wreaking havoc in the country over the past year with tacit patronage of the illegitimate Yunus regime.

Sources from Bangladesh said that Tarique is preparing to address a few more meetings in divisional headquarters of the country before launching the full-fledged campaign for the elections and then he will engage in negotiations with the Jamat-e-Islami leaders to finalise a seat-sharing deal. “He may not be very keen to have the Jamat tagged to his party banner but he has no other alternative to keep the anti-Awami League vote intact; as a westernised modern man he has no love lost for the medieval obscurantism of Jamat but he seemingly has no other alternative” sources said. The process may commence soon as the Yunus regime is not very keen on elections and wants to hang on to power as long as possible.

Meanwhile, another Hindu youth identified as Amrit Mandal (29) was lynched to death by a ‘Momin’ mob on charge of extortion in Rajbari area of Dhaka yesterday. Shortly after arriving in the Rajbari market on his motor bike Amrit Mandal was pulled down and lynched to death , as claimed by police and local sources but the minuscule minority of Hindus living in this area trashed this claim. “In Islamised Bangladesh wallowing in Hindu blood, no minority youth will ever dare to engage in extortion from ‘Momins’; we here are too few , too vulnerable and too scared ; this is part of a conspiracy to explain away the ghastly crime by deflecting criticism at the international level against the barbaric Yunus regime” said a senior Hindu businessman from Dhaka. Amrit had been lynched only because of his religious identity and smart movement in defiance of the shadow of terror in which the Hindus live here, the businessman added.

Apart from this, BNP leader of Laxmipur in Khulna district Belal Hossain who had lost his seven yearold daughter Ayesha Akhtar to the blaze that had been set on his house by suspected Jamat elements on December 20, got bereraved further last night. His eldest daughter Salma Akhtar (16) who had suffered 90% burn injuries in the fire succumbed in the hospital at Khulna. Sources from Bangladesh said that Belal Hossain’s house had been locked up by a gang of arsonists belonging to Jamat before setting it afire on December 20. Belala , his wife and two daughters had managed to wriggle out of the inferno , leaving behind their youngest of three daughters Ayesha to be charred to death . But yesterday he lost his eldest daughter Salma also. The death of two girls have been condemned by all in Bangladesh and senior BNP leaders have rushed to Khulna to meet Belal and his family.

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