Staff Reporter :
A fresh intra-party clash between two groups of ruling Awami league’s (AL) leaders and workers left at least one person dead and 15 other injured at Balipara in Trishal upazila of Mymensingh district on Wednesday morning.
The deceased was identified as Saiful Molla, 40. Of the injured, four people with critical condition have been admitted to the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.
Infighting among the leaders and workers of ruing AL has taken a serious turn at different places of the country.
They are engaged in infighting to establish supremacy in their respective areas and grab party posts. Infighting in the ruling AL is nothing new, but it has increased in recent days, particularly after the union council elections.
According to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), at least 52 AL men were killed and nearly 3,500 injured in 334 incidents of internal clashes from January last year till October this year. The death toll rose to 57 following Wednesday Trishal clash in which one person was killed.
On Wednesday in Trishal, police fired over two hundreds rounds of blanks shots, lobbed of teargas shells and used resorted to baton charge when the two groups were launching attack on each other with country made arms and lethal weapons.
Additional members of different law enforcement agencies including elite force Rapid Action Battalion and police have been deployed in and around the area. A tense situation is prevailing in the area.
When contacted Maniruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Trishal Police Station, said Golam Mohammad Badal, Chairman of Balipara union council and also president of union unit AL, had a long been enmity with Abdul Bari, a convener of union unit Jubo League, over establishing supremacy in the union.
After wining the UP council elections, supporters of Golam Mohammad Badal launched attack at Juba League office and Abdul Bari’s houses. They also set ablaze the Juba League Office and Bari’s house at Balipara.
On Tuesday when the supporters of Badal and Bari took out anti-terrorism procession in their locality and hurled abusive words against each other, the situation took into a serious turn. However, no untoward incident took place on that day, local said.
But on Wednesday the supporters of both groups equipped with lethal weapons attacked each other following an altercation around 1 pm, triggering a clash that left Saiful people dead and 15 others injured.
As the news spread, the followers of Chairman Badal launched attack with lethal weapons on Bari’s brother Abdul Baten office and houses. Chase and counter chase also took place during the violent clash.
The two groups also exchanged gunshots during the clash. To bring the situation, when police started firing blank gunshots and lobbing off tear gas shells the whole area turned into a battle filed creating panic among the local.
Establishing supremacy in areas appears as the major factor behind the internal conflicts at grassroots level of the AL, according to party insiders.
Apart from these, extortion, tender manipulation and influencing the government’s development work are the main causes behind their frantic efforts to establish supremacy or retain control over a particular area.
Besides, intra-party feuds at the grassroots level took place also when dissidents defying the party high command’s order contested the last union parishad elections held in phases in the first quarter of this year.
In the latest example of infighting, four people were killed in a clash between the supporters of former and incumbent UP chairmen at Nilakkha village under Raipura upazila of the district Monday noon.
In another example of intra-party feud, at least two persons were killed and 40 others injured, in a clash between two factions at Kushtia town last month.
The dead, Iman Ali, 35, of Majhpara, and Shahabuddin, 55, of Baidyanathpur, were activists of the AL’s Jhaudia union unit.
On September 2, a local activist of the Jubo League, was killed in clash between two rival factions at Kashoi Bazar, in Monoharganj upazila of Comilla district. The dead identified as Hitu Mia, 32, general secretary of Ward 1 Juba League.
