Dhaka, Jan 21 (IANS) As Bangladesh heads towards February 12 elections, several workers and supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the radical Islamist Party Jamaat-e-Islami engaged in escalating clashes over election campaigning, local media reported.
Amid rising political tensions, the workers of the BNP and Jamaat clashed in Dhaka's Mirpur area on Tuesday, leaving several people injured.
Citing witnesses, Bangladesh’s leading newspaper, The Daily Star, reported that the clash erupted around 4:00 pm on Tuesday when a group of Jamaat workers were campaigning near the Mubarak Mosque.
Reports suggest that the Jamaat workers were confronted by BNP men while attempting to enter a 10-storey building named “Heaven Tower”in the capital.
Abdul Alim, a security guard at the building, said the BNP men blocked the Jamaat workers, claiming that electioneering was not permitted before January 22.
Idris Ali, former general secretary of the building’s flat owners’ association, claimed that Jamaat workers had visited households, seeking votes from residents.
“They have campaigned in this area and this building several times before. We even hung a notice board at the entrance stating ‘Political discussions and campaigning are forbidden here’, but they ignored it,” The Daily Star quoted Ali as saying.
Several local BNP leaders accused Jamaat activists of asking for residents’ mobile numbers and National Identity cards while campaigning. A heated exchange broke out between the two groups, but the situation eventually cooled, and both sides dispersed.
However, tension reportedly flared outside the mosque, with local BNP leaders claiming that Jamaat workers surrounded some of their members, accusing them of “confining” Jamaat workers inside the building.
Shariful Islam Milon, former general secretary of BNP’s youth wing Jubo Dal from Kafrul Thana, said, “Jamaat came with 100–150 people in front of the mosque and chased our men. Hearing this, we gathered about 1,000–1,500 people.”
Local residents said that BNP workers assembled in the alleys around the mosque, raising anti-Jamaat slogans.
Milon claimed that the clash left six BNP workers injured, with three receiving treatment at a hospital.
Earlier on Monday, a clash between BNP and Jamaat supporters in Chauddagram upazila of Cumilla district left five people injured, following a series of attacks on Sunday night, according to local media reports.
Citing local sources, The Daily Star reported that the residence of a BNP supporter, Bacchu Mia, was vandalised and looted by miscreants on Sunday, sparking tension.
Hours later, the BNP office in Dhonijora was also reportedly vandalised.
Subsequently, Jamaat offices in Telipukur Par, Shahadat Hossain Golap Market, and Sameshpur, along with adjacent shops, were set ablaze.
Bangladesh has been witnessing escalating violence under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government ahead of the February 12 election.
The parties that earlier collaborated with Yunus to overthrow the democratically elected government of the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina, are now at loggerheads.
--IANS
scor/rs
