7 injured as BNP factions clash in Lalmonirhat
Pabna dissidents to form committee
At least seven people were injured as two factions of BNP clashed at Shialkhowa Bazar in Kaliganj upazila of Lalmonirhat district on Monday night.
Police said the rival groups, one led by district BNP Vice-President Saleh Uddin Ahmed Helal and the other by district unit Organising Secretary Rokan Uddin Babul, locked in a clash at the bazar at around 8:00 to establish their supremacy in the area.
At least seven activists from both sides were injured and three motorbikes vandalised during the clash that continued for half an hour, according to our correspondent.
On information, police rushed to spot and dispersed the clashing groups. The injured are Bappi Islam, Firoz Kobir, Aminur Islam, Sobur Ali, Ataur Rahman, Jalil Miah and Mominul Islam. They are undergoing treatment at Kaliganj Upazila Health Complex.
Rokan blamed his rival party men for the incident. He said Helal's men were trying to take control of the market, assaulted his supporters and vandalised their motorbikes.
Refuting the allegations, Helal held the supporters of Rokan responsible for the clash. No case in connection with the incident was filed with Kaliganj Police Station as of 5”00pm yesterday.
Meanwhile, Aggrieved Pabna BNP men, who were not included in the new district unit formed in January this year, have decided to form a committee and hold central programmes separately.
They decisions came from a meeting held in the town on the night of April 15, reports our correspondent.
Chaired by district BNP leader Saiful Islam Badsha, the meeting was addressed, among others, by Pabna municipality mayor Kamrul Hassan Mintu, Jubo Dal district unit secretary Mosabbir Hossain Sanju and BNP leaders Maksudul Haque Firoz and Mosharaf Hossain.
They rejected the new committee, alleging that it was formed without taking opinion of the upazila and union committees. Moreover, dedicated party men have been excluded from the committee, they said.
BNP leaders and activists of 10 unions in Pabna Sadar upazila and the leaders, who have been dropped from the new committee, joined the meeting.
A 172-member Pabna district unit with Major KS Mahamud as president and Habibur Rahman Tota as secretary was approved by the central committee on January 22.
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