Staff Reporter :At least 30 leaders and activists of Awami League and its front bodies were injured in a factional clash between supporters of two ruling party lawmakers when they brought out an anti-hartal procession in the city’s Mipur area on Sunday morning. Of them, 17 bullet injured activists were admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in a critical condition, police and hospital sources said. They are Shamim Ahmed, General Secretary of AL Ward No. 93, Jubo League leaders Monir Hossain, Jakir Hossain, Chhatra League President of Shah Ali Thana unit, AL activists Monowar Hossain, Al Amin, Imon, Habib, Korban Ali, Abul Kashem, Rafi, Sujan, Shubho, Sabur Ali, Ibrahim, and Shamim.The shops and other institutions were shut during the clash in the area. The agitated men vandalized several shops and vehicles at that time. “The supporters of local lawmaker Aslamul Hoque Aslam locked into a quarrel with the supporters of female reserved seat MP Sabina Akhter Tuhin over holding a rally against the Jamaat-e-Islami enforced hartal at Mirpur-1 Gol Chattar around 11:30am,” DMP’s Additional Deputy Commissioner (Mirpur Zone) Masud Ahmed said. He said, “At a stage of the quarrel, the supporters opened fire at each other that left 30 people injured, including 16 bullet wounded.”Police fired three rounds of bullet to bring the situation under control, the police official said. Police are investigating into the matter, the ADC said. When contacted, MP Sabina Akhter Tuhin said, “Everyone knows who the attackers were. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will do justice to us.”However, Aslam refused to make any comment regarding the matter.Brigadier General Mizanur Rahman, Director of DMCH, told journalists that 16 people, all wounded by stray bullets, were brought to the hospital. All of them are now out of danger, he said. Law enforcers fired blank shots to disperse the clashing party men around 12:30pm, said Anwar Hossain, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Shah Ali Police Station. Additional police were deployed in the area to avert any untoward situation, the police official said. “We are trying to arrest the culprits in this connection,” the OC said. Jamaat-e-Islami enforced 24-hour hartal from 6:00am on Sunday protesting the Supreme Court verdict that upheld the death penalty awarded to Jamaat chief Motiur Rahman Nizami on May 5.
