Staff Reporter :
Shops and houses belonging to members of the Ahmadiyya community were damaged and vandalized in clash with several religious organisations in Panchagarh on Tuesday night.
At least 25 persons were injured in the clash at Ahmadnagar over a ‘Jalsha’ (annual convention planned” by the minority Ahmadiyyas}.
In view of the conservative groups’resentment, the district authorities after a series of meetings on Tuesday cancelled the three-day Jalsha which was scheduled to start at Ahmadnagar on February 22.
Yet the censervative groups including the Khatm-e-Nubuwwat Shongrakkhon Parishad took to the streets at Ahmadnagar, the part of the town where members of the minority Muslim sect have their homes and businesses.
Police lobbed teargas shells and fired rubber bullets to bring back order. Of those injured in the violence, one person suffered critical injuries, said Panchagarh Central Hospital residential medical officer Pradip Kumar Banik.
Since early February, followers of conservative groups under the banners of Khatm-e-Nubuwwat Shongrakkhon Parishad, Iman Akida Raksha Committee, Islami Jubo Samaj and local Towhidi Janata were demanding cancellation of jalsa.. Their campaign was supported by Hefazat-e Islam chief Allama Shah Ahmad Shafi.
On Tuesday night, protesters began demonstrating at Chowrangi intersection, Dhaka-Panchagarh Highway and other points of the town, said Police OC Abu Akkas Ahmed.
Mohammed Golam Azam, Additional Deputy Commissioner, was announcing the decision to cancel the Jalsha from the loudspeaker of the Panchagarh Bazar Jame Mosque around 11:00pm. He urged the protesters to go home and avoid “attempts of provocation”.
The traffic in those areas came to a halt from 9:00 pm to around 11:00pm. Shops and business centres were shut amid fears of violence.
“The disciplinary action will follow the fairinvestigation,” said Panchagarh Deputy Commissioner Sabina Yasmin, while visiting the injured in the hospital.
Majid Ali, additional deputy inspector of police (Rangpur Range), Superintendent of Police Giasuddin Ahmad visited the scene and the injured at Panchagarh Central Hospital.
Rangpur Division Additional Divisional Commissioner Abdullah Sajjad, Additional DIG Majid Ali, Deputy Commissioner Sabina Yasmin, superintendent of Panchagarh police Md Giusuddin Ahmed visited the spot.
SP Giusuddin said “We are investigating the matter. We will take legal action against those responsible forunrest.”
The deputy commissioner said “The incident took place despite announcement of canceling the programme.”
Hefazat-e Islam has been pressing the government to declare the Ahmadiyyas ‘non-Muslims’.
