Bangladesh’s chief adviser leader Muhammad Yunus on Saturday vowed to carry forward the ideals of slain youth leader Osman Hadi, telling tens of thousands of mourners at his funeral that the country was making a collective promise to honour what the young politician stood for, even as tight security blanketed the capital amid ongoing unrest.
Hadi, 32, a prominent figure in last year’s student-led uprising that toppled longtime prime minister Sheikh Hasina, was shot in the head by masked assailants in Dhaka last week while launching his campaign for elections due in February. He died on Thursday in Singapore after spending six days on life support.
His killing has triggered a fresh wave of instability in the South Asian nation, including coordinated mob attacks on major newspapers and cultural institutions, raising fears that the violence could derail Bangladesh’s fragile democratic transition.
Police and paramilitary forces were deployed across Dhaka for Saturday’s funeral, though authorities reported no renewed violence during the proceedings. In a rare and symbolic honour, Hadi was laid to rest on the Dhaka University campus beside the grave of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.
Addressing the crowd, Yunus described the funeral as a collective pledge to uphold Hadi’s ideals. “Today, we have come to promise you that we will fulfil what you stood for,” he said, adding that Hadi’s legacy would endure.
{{/usCountry}}Addressing the crowd, Yunus described the funeral as a collective pledge to uphold Hadi’s ideals. “Today, we have come to promise you that we will fulfil what you stood for,” he said, adding that Hadi’s legacy would endure.
{{/usCountry}}Yunus said the young leader demonstrated how politics could be conducted with humility and grace, and pledged to elevate Bangladesh’s political culture by following that example. The mourners included Bangladesh’s army chief and representatives from across the political spectrum.
Bangladesh is scheduled to elect a new parliament on February 12, a transition many hope will help the Muslim-majority nation of 175 million recover from nearly two years of political turmoil and reclaim its standing as a regional success story.
However, frequent bouts of violent protests and intense political wrangling among disparate groups, including Islamist hardliners, have punctured the sense of optimism that followed Hasina’s ouster in August 2024.