Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar criticized the government over crime, alleged public hardships and the unresolved killings of former teacher Ganapati Chakraborty and three family members. He made the remarks on Thursday during a meeting with journalists at the metropolitan Jamaat office in Rangpur city.

Porwar said 550 killings had occurred in the past six months and referred to numerous rape incidents, as well as gas, electricity and fertilizer shortages affecting ordinary people. He said the government could not avoid responsibility. Calling the killing of the four-member teacher’s family inhuman, brutal and hateful, he expressed deep disappointment that law-enforcement agencies had not yet found a clue.

He said differing statements from the district administration, police and intelligence agencies, alongside media reports, had left the motive for the killings unclear. Porwar questioned public safety, conveyed condolences to the victims’ relatives and demanded that the cause be identified immediately. He also said Jamaat would hold a long march in Rangpur on September 19. Party leaders including Abdul Halim, Momtaz and ATM Azam Khan attended.