Nilphamari JP council marred by rivals' clash

Party chief HM Ershad and Secretary General Ruhul Amin Howladar delivered short speeches and left the venue-- Nilphamari Pourasava auditoriumwithout announcing a new district committee.

The JP council, held after about 15 years, was scheduled form a new district committee.

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After the inauguration, party workers belonging to different factions started chanting slogans in favour of their leaders who are prospective party candidates in the next parliamentary election and aspirants for leadership in the district committee.

As squabbles and brawls began over who among local leaders would speak, Ershad and party Secretary General Ruhul Amin Howladar spoke and left for Dhaka.

At the conference, two panels were submitted for election of the district committee. One was led by Ershad's brother-in-law Dr Asadur Rahman and Shahjahan Chowdhury and the other by Jainal Abedin and Khairat Hossain.

But Ershad did not announce a new committee as brawls broke out between supporters of the two rival panels.

At one stage, Ershad declared that if intra-party conflict continues in Nilphamari JP, he himself would contest in the next parliamentary polls from Nilphamari Sadar constituency. Awami League central leader and renowned cultural activist Asaduzzaman Noor is now the lawmaker from the area.

The council was presided over by district JP Convenor Dr Asadur Rahman.

In his brief speech Ershad said those who blasted bombs across the country on August 17 to create panic are enemies of the people and the country.

The henous act is a threat to democracy and sovereignty of the country, he said.

He asserted that Bangladesh is neither a fundamentalist nor a terrorist country; and not even a 'failed nation'. The bomb blasts were done by some vested quarters who want to brand Bangladesh as a country of fundamentalists.