The recent, unprovoked assault on senior leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the National Citizen Party (NCP) in New York by thugs affiliated with the Awami League has sparked widespread speculation about the profound mismanagement of Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry and its diplomatic missions in the United States.

This brazen act, captured on video and rapidly circulating across social media, has been portrayed as a damning indictment of the “interim government's inability” to ensure the safety of its own citizens abroad, even those holding significant political stature.

This isn't an isolated incident. The pattern of violence is disturbingly clear. During the visits of Information Adviser Mahfuz Alam to Washington D.C. and London, similar activities by Awami League goons raised the same urgent questions about the interim government's competence and control.

How can an administration that fails to secure a serving cabinet-rank adviser abroad be trusted with the broader safety of the populace? These attacks, however, reveal a more fundamental and troubling issue: the sense of impunity that has emboldened Awami League activists to engage in outright criminal behavior.

Throwing eggs at vehicles and individuals–an act that can constitute assault and battery under U.S. and British law–is no mere protest. It is a calculated act of intimidation and violence. The fact that these actions have gone unchecked suggests a systemic failure to hold perpetrators accountable, creating a permissive environment for thuggery.

Social media is ablaze with accusations that the interim government, its Foreign Ministry, and its diplomatic missions failed to provide adequate protection. While it is true that securing every member of a delegation at an event as massive as the United Nations General Assembly is a logistical impossibility–even for U.S. law enforcement–this argument is a smokescreen.

The core issue is not the lack of protocol but the failure to anticipate and deter a predictable act of political violence. The leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, who were also present, reportedly did not face this assault, having been escorted by their own activists.

This contrast underscores a critical point: the responsibility to protect political figures from foreseeable threats, especially during an event like UNGA, probably doesn't solely rest with the state, rather with private/political security details.

This is because, during an event like the UNGA, it is customary for the host country to extend security only to the principal of a visiting delegation–the head of state or government–and, at most, a few top-ranking ministers

The barebones staffing of Bangladesh’s diplomatic missions in the U.S. renders them incapable of a task of this scale, and any request to U.S. authorities for a full delegation escort would be swiftly rejected during a massive event like the UN General Assembly.

The political failure

The more damning question arising from the chaos in New York is why the BNP and NCP were so astonishingly unprotected. In a stark and revealing contrast, leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami were seen moving unharmed, shielded by a human cordon of their own activists and leaders based in the U.S.

Most baffling of all is the absence of a mobilized support base for Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the Secretary General of the very party that is likely to come to power in Bangladesh. Where were the local BNP chapters? The thousands of activists and expatriate supporters who claim to rally for the party's cause?

Yet, all these questions pale in comparison to the most troubling one: what emboldens Awami League thugs in cities like New York and London to commit acts that could lead to severe criminal charges or, for non-citizens, deportation?

The legal frameworks in the United States and the United Kingdom are explicit. There is a fundamental line separating legitimate dissent–the right to protest with placards and slogans from a distance–and the criminal thuggery of egging, vandalism, and close-proximity threats.

The fact that these goons repeatedly cross this line suggests an unshakable sense of impunity. They believe they are untouchable.

This culture of impunity is the true culprit. The handful of arrests and criminal filings that have occurred are token gestures against a deeply entrenched pattern of unpunished aggression.

The failure of the opposition to consistently press criminal charges, combined with the lack of a stern official stance from the Bangladesh government itself, has created a permissive environment. This sends a clear signal to Awami League activists abroad that such behavior will be tolerated, if not tacitly encouraged.

But the most damaging consequence of this shameful spectacle is the harm it does to Bangladesh as a nation. These acts degrade the credibility of our passport and portray Bangladeshis on the global stage as an unruly, unmanageable mob.

When political thugs carry their street-level thuggery to the world's most powerful cities, they do not just humiliate their political rivals; they humiliate an entire country.

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Harun Ur Rashid is a writer and analyst