Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
Releasing from a city hospital after taking seven-day treatment for brain haemorrhage, Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) Mayor Selina Hayat Ivy speaking to The New Nation on Tuesday evening, said, “I am pledging to the nation to free the footpaths for people at any cost to establish the right of the pedestrians of Chashara and elsewhere in the city.”
“I am responsible for the city and its residents will not accept comments of some unauthorised persons. That was not the case in the past and will not be in the future as well. The residents will decide how the city will operate,” the Mayor opined.
She termed the Chashara clashes between her supporters and Awami League MP Shamim Osman as ‘the victory of peace against weapons’. “A four-storey building will be constructed for the hawkers and they will move in there. My message is clear the hawkers will run their businesses in the Hawkers’ Market,” she said.
Immediately after her release from Labaid Hospital, she held a press conference at the hospital in the afternoon, Ivy expressed her gratitude to all, including her supporters and people of Narayanganj for saving her during the attack allegedly by supporters of local Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman in city’s Chashara area on January 16.
“I have no quarrels with anyone. I left New Zealand to serve my country. Backed by the Awami League, I was elected the Chairman of Narayanganj Municipality in 2003. I am a tested soldier of Sheikh Hasina, and I do not have to prove myself to anyone over and over again,” I received much love in my life, I don’t need anything else,” she told journalists at the hospital.
An apparently confident Ivy told the media that the people of Narayanganj are with her.
Tension was running high in Narayanganj after the city corporation moved to drive away roadside vendors, when MP Shamim sided with the hawkers and threatened with dire consequences.
Ivy, vice-president of Narayanganj district Awami League, says Shamim wanted her killed and sent one of his henchmen while the MP says Niazul used his licensed firearm only in self-defence.
On January 16, the city’s Chashara turned into a battlefield as a fierce clash broke out when a procession led by Mayor Ivy went to the area. Several gun-toting men were spotted during the clash, including Niazul Islam Khan, who is known to be a henchman of MP Shamim.
On Jan 18, Ivy was hospitalised in Dhaka after she suddenly fell ill in her office. After being treated for four days at the Labaid Hospital, she was released on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a murder complaint has been lodged in Narayanganj claiming an attempt to kill Selina Hayat Ivy during the recent clash on the day.
