UNB, Beanibazar :
Relatives of Gulshan Café attack mastermind Tamim Chowdhury, who was killed in a police operation in Narayanganj on Saturday, here refused to receive his body out of hatred towards him for his evil acts. “I feel hatred introducing him as my nephew… we don’t want to receive his body,” Tamim’s uncle Nurul Islam Chowdhury told UNB. Nurul Islam, a local coal businessman, said he has no contact with Tamim’s family members who live in Canada. Relatives and villagers said Tamim is a son of Shfiqul Islam Chowdhury alias Soa Miah of Barogram village at Dubag union of the upazila. They said, Soa Miah left his village home after the country’s liberation for Chittagong to avoid arrest in a criminal case. He then used to work at Chittagong Shipyard.
Tamim had spent his childhood in Chittagong and studied there up to class III. Later, he along with his family migrated to Canada and was raised there.
His cousin Fahim Chowdhury said Tamim came home for a few days in 1995 after they migrated to Canada. “He’s 14-15 years old at that time. He’s very reserved and cool having a different attitude. We didn’t have any contact with him or his family after he returned to Canada.”
He said Tamim’s family members also came home in 2001 for three months, but did not visit their village home as they stayed in Sylhet city at a rented house. Tamim’s another uncle Nazrul Islam died on Thursday last.
Talking to UNB, Nazrul’s wife Angura Khatun said, “Tamim’s family had gone to Chittagong before my marriage, and then they migrated to Canada from there. I didn’t see him though he had come home 21 years back. Now I feel fear hearing his name.” The relatives also said no one of Tamim’s family from Canada contacted them as of 6pm Saturday to enquire about Tamim. They said they have heard that Tamim is a father of three children. Barogram villagers said they have come to know about Tamim after his name was surfaced for his involvement in militancy. “Our village was defamed to some extant because of his militant link. Some people now taunt us calling us the people of militant village. We’re ashamed of it,” said Bijoy Das, an inhabitant of the village.
Two college students, Jakaria and Pervez, also echoed Bijoy’s view. Beanibazar Officer-in-Charge Chandan Kumar Chakraworty said they visited Tamim’s village home after the incident, though the police department has not yet sought any information about Tamim.
Visiting his village home, the UNB correspondent found its most male members staying outside their home since they have heard about his killing in a police raid. The female members were also unwilling to talk about him. Tamim Chowdhury along with two other militants were killed during a special police operation, ‘Hit Strong’, in a den of ‘New JMB’ in a building of Narayanganj sadar upazila on Saturday morning.
Tipped off, DMP’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit unearthed the New JMB’s den on the third floor of a three-storey building at Paikpara beside Boro Koborsthan around 6:00am and started the operation in the militant hideout, said Additional deputy commissioner of the Bomb Disposal Unit of CTTC Sanwar. Earlier, DMP had announced a bounty of Tk20 lakh for information leading to the arrest of Tamim Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-origin Canadian citizen.
Talking to reporters after visiting the spot at Narayanganj’s Paikpara, Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque said Gulshan café attack mastermind Tamim Chowdhury had taken cover in the Narayanganj militant den following the Kalyanpur raid where nine militants were killed. “Following my order, the CTTC team asked the militants to surrender, but they didn’t. They hurled 4-5 grenades and opened fire at police, forcing the law enforcers to retaliate,” the IGP said.
