DHAKA – Catholic leaders in Bangladesh are expressing concern over the shooting of a potential candidate and the leader of last year’s student uprising, a day after the announcement of the national election schedule in the South Asian nation..

On December 12, two motorcycle-riding men shot Sharif Osman Hadi in public at noon and fled. Hadi’s supporters later took him to the hospital. Doctors said his condition is critical and the bullet entered one side of his head and exited the other.

Holy Cross Father Hubert Liton Gomes, secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Bangladesh Catholic Bishops’ Conference, called on the government to quickly arrest the culprits and bring them to justice.

“This is the day after the election schedule announcement, which is naturally a matter of concern for all those who will be taking part in the elections. This incident indicates the lack of security for the people of the country,” Gomes told Crux.

Hadi was the leader of the frontline of last year’s student uprising, but he did not join any political party after the protests. He himself was the spokesperson of the “Inqilab Moncho” and was a staunch critic of the government, the former dictator Sheikh Hasina who fled to India, and he is a staunch critic of India.

Two days before Hadi was shot, he had posted on his Facebook page about threats to his life and that of his family members. He said that he had received threats from several Indian phone numbers.

However, Hadi he was shot, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, the cultural advisor to the Bangladesh interim government, said that Hasina had been making one-on-one murder threats from India for the past few days.

“And today, Osman Hadi was shot. Hadi has received death threats from Indian numbers many times before,” Farooki said.

“We still don’t know for sure who did this. Whoever did this will have to pay the price. Get well soon, Hadi. The whole country is praying for your recovery. They don’t know that revolutionaries cannot be finished,” Farooki said.

Following the protests that began in July last year, then-Prime Minister and dictator Sheikh Hasina fled the country on August 5, 2024, and took refuge in India. In her absence, the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced her to death on charges of genocide.

In a televised address to the nation, chief election commissioner A.M.M. Nasir Uddin confirmed the date and said a national referendum on political reforms would also be held on the same day as voting to elect 300 lawmakers.

The process begins with the filing of nominations Dec. 12-29, which will then be reviewed over the following six days. The last date for withdrawing nominations is Jan. 20, he said.

The last elections were held in January 2024, when Hasina returned to office for a fourth consecutive term. That vote was boycotted by her main rivals, who accused her administration of rigging the result.

The leaders of the mass uprising have formed a political party called the National Citizens Party and will also contest the next parliamentary elections.

A young Catholic leader, who asked not to be named, told Crux that since the Awami League is no longer in power and they don’t know when they will return, they are trying to create an unstable situation in the country and prove that they were the good party or government.

“But if Sheikh Hasina ever returns, the level of brutality she will show will surpass the records of all dictators in the world,” the leader said.

“As Christians, we and Hindus are at high risk of being attacked, and this will be done so that international attention can be focused on Bangladesh and the interim government can be put under pressure,” he said.

This article includes material from the Associated Press.