Dhaka, February 18 Bangladesh's newly formed BNP-led government warned on Wednesday that "mob culture" would not be tolerated, amid a rise in mob violence, extrajudicial killings, and attacks on minority communities.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the senior-most minister in the new Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government, said that maintaining law and order was one of the government's top priorities, and that steps would be taken to end "mob violence".
"Absolutely," he told reporters when asked if the new administration would take proper steps to contain the "mob violence".
Alamgir, who is also the party's secretary general and in charge of the local government ministry, said, "This (mob violence) will be controlled."
"We must strive to improve the law and order situation, regardless of how much it has deteriorated," he added.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman chaired the first meeting of his newly formed cabinet on Wednesday. The cabinet set a 180-day priority plan with a focus on controlling commodity prices, maintaining law and order, and stabilizing supply chains.
After the meeting, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed described the restoration of law and order as a priority, alongside controlling prices of essential goods and ensuring uninterrupted power and energy supply.
"Mob culture cannot be tolerated in any way," Ahmed told reporters.
Bangladesh has witnessed several cases of mob lynching in recent months, mostly targeting members of the Hindu community, during the interim regime of Muhammad Yunus.
The Yunus regime took over after a violent student-led street movement toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League government on August 5, 2024.
Since then, Bangladesh has experienced a rise in mob violence, extrajudicial killings, and attacks on minority communities.
The rights group Manabadhikar Shongskriti Foundation (MSF) said that in January 2026 alone, they documented 21 incidents of lynching and 28 incidents of mob beatings.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council reported 522 communal attacks in 2025, including killings, rapes, and temple vandalism, with the murder of 116 people of minority faiths, mostly Hindus, between June 2025 and January 2026.
The reports suggested that leaders and activists of the Awami League, disbanded by the Yunus regime, were the victims of most attacks.
Media watchdogs reported over 640 attacks on journalists since the interim government took power, including two major incidents in which right-wing mobs set fire to the offices of mass-circulation newspapers Prothom Alo and The Daily Star.