Clash with Villagers
30 injured as BCL men try to occupy land
Some 30 people were injured, including three from gunshots, after some Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activists clashed with Chhalia villagers in Sylhet sadar upazila yesterday over taking possession of a land.
During the hour-long clash, 10 motorcycles and two microbuses were torched while some 100 gunshots were heard, said witnesses.
Police recovered two airguns and arrested 22 people from the spot, said Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP) Deputy Commissioner Rezaul Karim.
The witnesses said the villagers called upon the locals using megaphones of nearby mosques at around 2:30pm to resist the BCL men, who arrived on 30 motorcycles, two microbuses, a truck and a pickup van.
Soon the villagers confined some of the BCL men. Later, the upazila Chairman Ashfaque Ahmed and SMP Deputy Commissioner (North) Ejaj Ahmed arrived and brought the situation under control.
Sources said one, Muku Miah, son of Abdul Hashim of the city's Subidbaar area, sent the men to take possession of around 70 bighas of land, which, the BCL men claimed, was owned by Muku.
But the locals dismissed the claim, saying that the land, belonging to Mazumder Waqf Estate, was in the possession of some villagers for the last 40 years.
The BCL men include the city's former joint convener Pijush Kanti Dey, Madan Mohan College BCL President Arun Devnath Sagar, Faruque Ahmed and Jubo League leader Jagot Jyoti Talukder, said sources.
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