Election 2008

Pro-Ilyas men say 'no' to Sylhet-6 Jamaat runner

Procession, rally held at Beanibazar

19 December 2008, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent, Sylhet

Rejecting four-party nomination to Jamaat leader Maulana Habibur Rahman for Mouvibazar-6, Beanibazar BNP convenor Shamsul Islam addressing a street rally in the upazila yesterday.Photo: STAR

The BNP activists brought out a procession with sheaf of paddy at Beanibazar upazila headquarters protesting against four-party alliance nomination to a Jamaat leader in Sylhet-6 (Golapganj and Beanibazar upazilas) constituency. Independent candidate former lawmaker Syed Mokbul Hossain, who was earlier expelled from BNP, and former AL lawmaker Nurul Islam Nahid are considered as major contestants in the constituency. The organisers of yesterday's protest programme, known as belonging to the pro-Ilyas faction of local BNP, also held a brief rally with upazila BNP convener Shamsul Islam in the chair. The other faction is working for Jamaat's district Amir Moulana Habibur Rahman, the four-party candidate for the constituency while Mokbul Hossain is running as an independent candidate with blessings from a section of local BNP men. Mokbul Hossain was first elected in 1986 as an independent runner. In 2001 again as a non-party candidate he defeated AL's Nurul Islam Nahid by over 5,000 votes. However, he had enjoyed support from a good number of BNP activists, as none from the party contested in the election. Mokbul later joined BNP but he became vocal against former minister BNP stalwart M Saifur Rahman and his son former lawmaker Naser Rahman's alleged corruptions in mid-2006. Since then he has no link with the BNP as the party also expelled him. Industrialist Mokbul, who still enjoys support of a BNP faction in the area and has a good reputation as a donor, is looked upon by many locals as a potential candidate this time too.