Jatiya Nagarik Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam on Monday alleged that a section of the interim government, along with long-term social engineering and political backing, was behind the recent mob attacks on the offices of The Daily Star and Prothom Alo.

Speaking at a joint protest organised by the Editors’ Council and the Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka, the former ICT adviser described the violence as a “planned crime”, not a spontaneous public reaction.

Nahid said the perpetrators deliberately exploited the slogans of the July Uprising and the death of youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi to legitimise the attacks. He noted that the scale and coordination of the violence indicated a high-level conspiracy.

“We believe a section of the interim government is involved. Social consent for such attacks had been built over time, and there was political backing. Without these three factors—government involvement, social consent and political support—such an incident would not have been possible,” he said.

Expressing disappointment over the country’s direction after the July Uprising, Nahid said, “The Bangladesh we expected after the uprising… we are not moving in that direction.”

He also criticised the failure of law enforcement during the 18 December midnight attacks and lamented the lack of public resistance. “In a city of millions, not even 500 people came forward to protect the newspaper offices,” he said, adding that citizens felt “helpless” as police did not act.

Nahid urged the interim government to ensure impartial investigations into both the attacks on media houses and the killing of Sharif Osman Hadi. Warning against the rise of what he termed “mobocracy”, he said such actions must be stopped to protect the rule of law.

“We will not allow attacks on media houses or institutions in the name of the July Uprising. We must take a stand against anyone who disrupts the rule of law under any pretext,” he added.