A chilling Facebook post by Asif Shaikat, a doctor currently serving as a consultant in ICU and critical care medicine at the National Institute of Neurosciences & Hospital, has sparked outrage after he openly incited military-style “cleansing operations” against the hill communities in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Shaikat, who was previously active in the student politics of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) and is often seen engaged in political activism on social media, made the post at around 1:30 AM on Monday. In it, he urged the army to carry out a silent and ruthless campaign, branding it as “Operation Safa Kirikira” — a phrase that loosely translates to “wiping out completely.”
The full text of his Facebook post reads:
“The army should launch a silent operation, without informing us or the media. For the sovereignty of the country, a complete ‘safa kirikira’ type operation. The name will be ‘Operation Safa Kirikira’. Meanwhile, even if the leftists dance naked, we won’t pay them any attention; let them howl like street dogs. Behind these leftists are Reuters, BBC, and Amnesty. They are the ones who have launched them — even a small push will bring international attention. That means there will be silent gunfire on one side, and the leftists will keep screaming on the other.”
The terminology he used — particularly “safa kirikira” — is widely understood as a genocidal call to exterminate the Jumma (hill) people, while his dismissal of leftist groups as “street dogs” adds to the inflammatory rhetoric. The post appeared amid an already volatile situation in Khagrachhari, where protests erupted after the alleged gang rape of a schoolgirl on September 23. The demonstrations, led under the banner of Jumma Chhatra-Janata, escalated into clashes, arson attacks, and eventually gunfire that left three people dead and at least twenty, including army and police personnel, injured. Authorities have since imposed Section 144 in parts of the district.
Human rights observers note that Shaikat’s comments echo the rhetoric of ultra-Bengali nationalist groups that have long harbored hostility towards indigenous communities in the hills. His casual suggestion of a “soundless” operation and mockery of international watchdogs like Amnesty International and BBC underscore the dangerous normalization of genocidal language within certain circles of online political activism.
While Shaikat holds no formal position in the BNP or its student wing today, his past links to JCD and visible association with BNP-aligned figures make his remarks politically sensitive. Social media users have already condemned the post as a stark reminder of the persistent ethnic fault lines in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
