Published : 27 Sep 2026, 07:30 PM
Updated : 27 Sep 2026, 07:30 PM
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has described the vandalism at content creator Salman Muqtadir’s studio and the demolition of a health centre in Mirpur as an “ominous sign” for the government and ruling party.
TIB, the Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog's local chapter, said on Sunday it was "deeply concerned and outraged" by the events.
"According to reliable media reports, under the patronage of a member of parliament on a reserved seat, ruling party leaders and activists carried out shameless, violent looting, vandalism and forcible occupation at the Radda MCH-FP health centre in the presence of police at midnight," the organisation said.
It also referred to clashes among local BNP factions over a waterbody in Kishoreganj that left more than 50 people injured, as well as the attack on Salman’s studio.
TIB said the incidents were “not isolated” but reflected a wider problem.
It called for those involved to be held accountable and urged the BNP to launch an internal campaign to address such practices across the country.
The attack, vandalism and looting at New Guinea Properties in ECB Chattar’s South Manikdi took place around 10:30pm on Saturday.
Besides Salman’s Brownfish Studio, the housing project's office and nearby structures were also attacked.
Police said the attack may have stemmed from a land dispute between a property developer and a retired military official.
Two days earlier, on Thursday at midnight, an entire facility belonging to Radda MCH-FP Centre, a private healthcare organisation in Mirpur 1, was torn down using heavy machinery, including one permanent and three semi-permanent buildings.
The attackers put up a signboard for "Somomona Dokandar Samity Limited" at the site before leaving.
The organisation alleges that its office supplies, along with a large quantity of vaccination materials, were looted during the attack.
Describing the looting, vandalism and forcible occupation at Radda MCH as "an embarrassing precedent for the government and ruling party", TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said in a statement on Sunday.
"What kind of precedent is the ruling party setting by destroying, under the patronage of a member of parliament on a reserved seat and in the presence of police, in front of hundreds of people, a charitable organisation that has provided healthcare to poor, helpless mothers and children for half a century?
"What message does this kind of conduct by leaders and activists of a party voted into power through a historic election, against the backdrop of the fall of an authoritarian kleptocracy through the July Uprising, send to the people of this country?"
According to him, the arbitrary conduct of the past authoritarian government remains fresh in the public mind.
The TIB chief questioned whether BNP's policymakers were weighing the consequences of ongoing land grabbing and extortion by a section of their party's leaders and activists.
A section of BNP leaders and activists have faced widespread allegations of land grabbing, extortion and dominance-seeking since the political changeover, Iftekharuzzaman said.
This campaign of daily, monthly and one-off extortion has continued unchecked, he added.
He alleged that even after a minister publicly declared, on multiple occasions, that extortion was not corruption but a "negotiated transaction", the government took no action.
"As a result, extortion and land grabbing have become increasingly normalised, leading to these incidents, which are an ominous sign for the government,” Iftekharuzzaman said.
