Documentation: The 1988 Laldighi Massacre to Kill Hasina: A Moment of Rare Political Unity

Image: Shaheed Minar, 1988.

During Ershad’s autocratic rule, on January 24, 1988, police opened fire on Sheikh Hasina’s motorcade as she was heading to a public meeting at Laldighi Maidan in Chittagong. According to official records, 9 people were killed; however, unofficial sources put the death toll at 24, while the Awami League’s webpage cites 80 fatalities. The Awami League described this attack as a deliberate attempt to assassinate Sheikh Hasina.

In protest of this attack, the Awami League and the then 8-party alliance called for a demonstration at the Shaheed Minar in Dhaka on January 26. For various reasons, Sheikh Hasina did not attend that rally, but to everyone’s surprise, BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia did. She even led a protest march following the rally to condemn the police firing on Sheikh Hasina’s convoy and the massacre carried out by Ershad’s autocratic regime. This is a photo of that procession. The image shows many current ruling party leaders, including Inu, Menon, Shahjahan Khan, Shirin Sultana, and Sheikh Selim, participating in the march led by Khaleda Zia.

After the incident, Hasina stated, “The autocrat Ershad wanted to kill me, but my party workers protected me with their lives.”

Tasin Mahdi, a knowledge seeker based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, exhibits a profound commitment to the betterment of his home nation and a keen interest in international affairs and quietly coaxes discussions on global and local issues.