DHAKA: Five people were killed in Bangladesh after a passenger train caught fire on Friday, with police suspecting an arson attack during unrest ahead of elections boycotted by the opposition.

Four coaches caught fire on the Benapole Express, which was heading to Dhaka from the western city of Jessore.

“We have recovered five bodies,” police commander Khandaker Moin told reporters.

Witnesses said the train caught fire at Gopibagh, in an old part of Dhaka not far from the city’s main rail terminal.

“We suspect the fire incident was an act of sabotage,” police chief Anwar Hossain said, without giving more details.

Voters indifferent

Bangladesh votes on Sunday in an election guaranteed to give Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina her fifth term in office, after a boycott by opposition parties whose ranks have been decimated by mass arrests.

The ruling Awami League has presided over exceptional growth in a country once beset by grinding poverty, thanks to a lucrative garment export industry supplying the world’s top fast fashion brands.

But Hasina’s tenure has also been marred by widespread human rights abuses, with her security forces accused of extra-judicial killings, laws curtailing press and civic freedom, and a ruthless crackdown on the opposition.

Many young voters say they have no intention of participating in a contest they see as lacking a genuine choice.

“I’m not wasting my time for a one-sided election,” computer science graduate Sohanur Rahman, 28, said.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2024