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Four killed, 50 injured in clash over control of Bishwa Ijtema Ground 

Sachetan Chhatra Samaj supports Saad faction: Hasnat Abdullah

Published : Thursday, 19 December, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 394
Staff Correspondent
At least four people were killed and another 50 injured in a clash between two groups over the control of Bishwa Ijtema Ground in Gazipur's Tongi upazila on Wednesday.

Habib Iskandar, officer-in-charge of Tongi West Police Station, said the followers of Maulana Zubair Ahmed were staying at the Ijtema ground on Tuesday. Later, the followers of Maulana Saad Kandhalvi continued to enter the Ijtema ground from the west bank of the Turag River using different routes, including the Kamarpara Bridge.

He said that at that time, Zubair's followers started throwing brickbats from inside the field. Saad's followers retaliated. At one stage, the Saad supporters entered the grounds and a large-scale clash broke out between the two sides. Upon receiving the news, police and security forces rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Two of the deceased were identified as Bachchu Mia, 70, from Egarasindur village in Kishoreganj's Pakundia upazila, and Belal, 60, from Beraid in the Dakshin Khan area of Dhaka.

After the clash, Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam held a meeting with the followers of Saad and Zubair at the Secretariat and later confirmed to journalists the deaths of four people in the clash.

Local sources said Zubair's supporters, already present at the Ijtema venue, threw brick chips at Saad's followers, who were entering the ground from the west bank of the Turag River through various routes, including Kamarpara Bridge. Saad supporters retaliated, triggering the clash around 3:00am, the sources said.

The supporters of Indian preacher Saad Kandhalvi and senior cleric Zubair Ahmed have blamed each other after the two Tablighi Jamaat factions clashed on the Bishwa Ijtema grounds in Tongi.

The Saad supporters claim that as they were preparing to sleep from the Kamarpara to the Sluice Gate area, they were attacked by Zubair supporters using 'brickbats and lit torches' around 3:30am on Wednesday. The Zubair supporters say they were at the Ijtema grounds when the Saad supporters swooped on them around 3:30am with "knives, blades, hammers, and cricket stumps".

The supporters of Zubair had conducted their Jor Ijtema for five days from November 29 to December 3. The supporters of Saad had then announced they would hold their Jor Ijtema for five days from December 20. But Zubair's supporters blocked the Tongi-Kaliganj regional road on December 13 to protest against allowing Saad's supporters to gather at the grounds.

Saad supporter Mufti Mu'azz Bin Noor told the media from the Ijtema grounds: "A faction of Tabligh used these grounds throughout the year. When they held a five-day Jor [event], we requested permission to hold one as well."

"When the government wanted to sit with both sides on November 4, we came but they didn't. Even though the government permitted us to gather at the Diabari ground, I inspected it and saw that the capacity was only around 30,000. There are no utility facilities there. Our 400,000 to 500,000 people could not be accommodated there. Today, December 18, at 10am, the advisers wanted to sit for discussions with us. That is why our comrades have come to Dhaka with permission from the government to prepare the grounds."

He claimed that the Saad supporters were attacked at various places as they prepared to sleep, when the clashes started.

The leader of the Zubair supporters, Mufti Amanul Haque, spoke to the media from the Kakrail Mosque, saying: "While we were at the Ijtema ground, the Saad supporters attacked us with knives, blades, hammers, and cricket stumps at 3:30am."

Hasnat Abdullah, convener of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, has strongly condemned the violence and loss of life.

 In a status posted on his verified Facebook page on Wednesday morning, he wrote, "The 'Sachetan Chhatra Shomaj', which supports Saad, announced a programme to surround the Chief Adviser's Office and his residence to call for the clearing up of Maulana Saad Saheb's visa issues by 10am. We went to Tongi to discuss the situation with the Saad supporters to avoid any untoward incident."



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