New Delhi: An activist of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was shot dead in Dhaka late Wednesday, in the latest attack on leaders of the country’s main opposition party amid rising political violence in the run-up to the national elections scheduled next month.
Azizur Rahman Mosabbir, a former general secretary of the BNP volunteer wing Jatiyatabadi Swechasebak Dal, was killed when gunmen opened fire at him near Karwan Bazar, one of Dhaka’s busiest commercial areas, according to reports in local media.
Mosabbir, the former member secretary of the Swechasebak Dal’s Dhaka North unit, was rushed to the BRB Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
“A case has been filed in connection with the murder of former Swechchhasebak Dal leader Azizur Rahman,” the Daily Star reported. The case was filed against four-five unnamed individuals on the basis of a complaint by Mosabbir’s wife, the report quoted Tejgaon police station officer-in-charge Kya Shi Nyu Marma as saying.
Masud Rana (42), the president of the Karwan Bazar Rickshaw Workers and Van Owners Union, was also injured in the attack and is being treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, the reports stated.
According to BNP officials quoted by the Dhaka Tribune, Mosabbir and Rana were having tea at a roadside stall when several assailants arrived on motorcycles, fired indiscriminately, and fled.
Police said they were investigating the attack. Supporters of the Swechasebak Dal later gathered outside the hospital, leading to tensions in the area.
Family members and party activists said Mossabir was arrested multiple times and had also been jailed during the rule of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League.
He had also contested the 2020 city corporation polls as a BNP-backed candidate for the councillor post in Ward-26 of Tejgaon, The Daily Star reported.
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BNP under attack
BNP members have been frequently attacked in the country since elections were announced. BNP leader Belal Hossain’s was set on fire in Lakshmipur last month, leaving his seven-year-old daughter Ayesha Akter dead.
Belal Hossain, an assistant organising secretary of the Bhabaniganj Union BNP, and his two teenage daughters, 16-year-old Salma Akter and 14 year old Samia Akter sustained serious burn injuries and were hospitalised. The children were later transferred to Dhaka for advanced treatment. His another daughter later succumbed to injuries.
The latest attack comes amid a sharp escalation in unrest across Bangladesh following the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, a student leader and independent politician known for his radical rhetoric.
Hadi, a leading figure of the political platform Inquilab Moncho, was shot at in central Dhaka on 12 December and was airlifted to Singapore for treatment, where he died on 18 December.
BNP Chairperson Tarique Rahman, who returned to Bangladesh on 25 December after a 17-year exile, had asked party workers and civilians to maintain calm until the election period, warning against sinister motives by “hegemonic groups” attempting to create violence in the country.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)