Bangladesh: BNP demands UN investigation into train fire incident

Bangladesh’s main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has demanded a UN-monitored investigation into the fire that killed four people on a passenger train. The opposition party has described the incident as a “pre-planned” act of sabotage ahead of its boycott of the general elections. This incident happened around 9 pm on Friday night. When the Benapole Express, running from Benapole, a city bordering the Indian state of West Bengal, reached Kamlapur railway station in the capital, four coaches of the train were set on fire. Railway officials said most of the approximately 292 passengers on board the train were returning home from India. Shahjahan Sikdar, deputy assistant director of the fire service and civil defense media cell, said they recovered four bodies from the burnt coaches of the train.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) senior joint secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi in ​​a statement expressed concern over the death of passengers on the Benapole Express train from Benapole to Dhaka due to arson by miscreants. ‘The Daily Star’ newspaper quoted Rizvi as saying that there was no doubt that the fire in the Benapole Express train was a destructive act that led to the loss of lives. The newspaper said Rizvi called it a brutal atrocity against humanity and called for a United Nations-monitored investigation into the incident. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has expressed deep sorrow over the death of four people in the fire in Benapole Express train. He directed the concerned authorities to investigate whether the fire was set as part of a subversive activity. Voting is to be held in Bangladesh on Sunday.

More than 100 foreign observers, including three observers from India, have reached Dhaka to monitor the general elections. Under the leadership of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, the BNP is boycotting the general elections. Bangladesh witnessed a few incidents of train-related arson in recent months. On 19 December, an unidentified person opened fire on a train, killing four people, including a mother and child. That day the opposition had called a nationwide strike. In early December, anti-social elements had uprooted railway tracks on the outskirts of the capital, causing seven coaches of a train to derail in Ghazipur, killing one passenger and injuring dozens.

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