Protest against Jamaat leader accused, no one arrested yet

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A protest march was held in Kushtia’s Daulatpur on the charge of ‘involvement of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’ in the murder case of Pir Abdur Rahman alias Shamim. The leaders and workers of the party held a protest march and rally in Daulatpur today on Thursday afternoon.

The procession under the banner of Daulatpur Upazila Jamaat-e-Islami started in front of the Upazila Model Mosque around 5:30 pm. Then it ends in front of Daulatpur police station through the main road. Later a short rally was held there. Slogans were raised from the programme, ‘Why file a case against the Jamaat leader, the administration should answer’.

Amir Belal Uddin of Daulatpur Upazila Jamaat-e-Islami said in the rally that since the beginning they have been urging the administration to identify and arrest the real criminals by reviewing the video footage to demand a fair investigation of the incident. However, Jamaat leader Khawaja Ahmed has been made the prime accused in the case.

Jamaat leader Belal Uddin complained that an opposition group is trying to frame him, being jealous of Khawaja Ahmed’s popularity in the concerned area and his skyrocketing support for participating in the possible UP chairman election. A self-interested gang is collecting money illegally by going to common people’s houses in the dark of night and threatening to file a case.

In the rally, Kushtia District Jamaat Publicity and Media Secretary Enamul Haque said that they do not support the attack and killing in Darbar in any way and demanded speedy trial of those involved. However, he alleged that a few days after the incident, a case was filed with the Jamaat leader as the main accused to suppress the opposition for political purposes. Although he (Khawaza) was not present there during the incident. He demanded that the case be immediately withdrawn and the real culprits be brought to justice through an impartial investigation.

Meanwhile, the police could not arrest any accused even in five days in the discussed incident. Jamaat leader Khawaja Ahmed, who was made an “accused by order” in the case, was seen on social media Facebook. Last Tuesday night, he denied his involvement in the murder by releasing a 12-minute video on his Facebook ID. He also posted the photo of the banner of the protest rally held today.

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According to the investigation in the area, the second accused of Ezahar, Daulatpur upazila president of Khilafat Majlis, Asaduzzaman, was seen by several people on a motorcycle at Hossainabad market around 12 noon today. Jamaat worker Rajeev Mistry, accused number 3 of the case, is absconding since the day of the incident.

When asked, Daulatpur Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Arifur Rahman told Prothom Alo that no accused has been arrested in the case. The accused are not found despite the raid. They have a presence on social media Facebook. When asked about this, OC Arifur Rahman said that he is not aware of the matter. He also said that the leaders and workers of Jamaat-e-Islami marched peacefully in the afternoon.

A 36-second video of Pir Abdur Rahman alias Shamim from a few years ago went viral on social media last Friday morning, in which he allegedly made derogatory comments about the Holy Quran. This creates anger among different classes of people. In view of this, a group of people attacked the Durbar after noon last Saturday and hacked and beat Shamim to death in the presence of the police.

In this incident, the elder brother of the victim, Fazlur Rahman, filed a murder case at Daulatpur Police Station as the plaintiff. Local Jamaat leader Muhammad Khawaja Ahmed (38) has been charged with the order. He is a member of the working council of Daulatpur Upazila Jamaat. His house is in Islampur village of Phillipnagar union.

The names and identities of four persons have been mentioned in the statement of the case. The other three are sons of the deceased Ershad Ali of Hossainabad (Bishwaspara) village of Daulatpur upazila. Asaduzzaman (35). He is the President of Daulatpur Upazila Committee of Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis. Rajiv Mistry (45), son of Gazi Mistry of West-South Phillipnagar Darogar Mor area, has been made accused number 3. Accused number 4 is a resident of Islampur (Purbapara) village. Shihab. Apart from this, another 180 to 200 people have been named as accused.