Supporters of an Awami League ‘rebel’ Sreepur Upazila Parishad chairman candidate blocked the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Gazipur to protest his alleged detention by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

Sreepur Police Station OC Amir Hossain said traffic came to a halt on the highway from around 3pm on Friday after supporters of Telihati Union Parishad chairman Abdul Jalil, who is also a member of the ruling party’s Upazila unit, begun protesting.
He said thousands of Jalil’s supporters took it to the streets following the rumour of his detention by RAB.
Police were trying to control the situation and resume traffic on the highway, Hossain said.
The blockade has caused a nearly 15 kilometre-long congestion on both side of the road, said Maona Highway Police Station OC Sanwar Hossain.
His supporters were also agitating on different bypasses of the highway at Sreepur.
RAB, however, could not confirm Jalil’s detention.
The Awami League leader’s election campaign coordinator Md Nurunnabi Akhand told bdnews24.com that RAB had called Jalil several times over phone on Wednesday, summoning at their Shimultoli camp. But he was unable to go, as he was busy campaigning.
“After today’s Juma prayers, several men in plain clothes identified themselves as RAB officials while he was campaigning at Bormi, in Sreepur. They took him away in a car.”
RAB-1 Shimultoli camp’s Assistant Director Ziaur Rahman was unavailable for comments. His mobile phone was switched off.
However, RAB-1 commander Lt Col Kismat Hayat had said earlier that they had summoned Jalil for information regarding his land. “But I don’t know anything about today’s developments.”
Awami League has extended support to Iqbal Hasan Sabuj for the chairman’s post at the Sreepur Upazila Parishad elections slated for Mar 13.
Sabuj is known to be a supporter of Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque.
Meanwhile, Abdul Jalil, backed by a faction of the Upazila Awami League unit, has begun his election campaign in defiance of the party’s decision. He is known to be a follower of local MP Md Rahmat Ali. – bdnews24.com