Gulistan Turns Into Battleground as Jamaat-BNP Clash Erupts Over Control, Extortion

❐ Staff Reporter

There have been extreme tensions and clashes in Gulistan, the capital’s busiest area. A Jamaat-e-Islami procession was ambushed over allegations of occupying sidewalks and markets and extortion.

Jamaat claims that local BNP leaders and activists carried out the attack using domestic weapons. At least 15 to 20 businessmen and Jamaat activists, including the president of Gulistan ward Jamaat, were left bloodied and seriously injured in the clash.

The chase and counter-chase and attack took place under the Fulbaria flyover in Gulistan and in front of the BRTC counter at around 5 pm today, Saturday, July 4th.

Abdus Sattar Suman, assistant publicity secretary of Jamaat’s Dhaka Metropolitan South, alleged, “Some BNP terrorists have been carrying out horrific extortion and encroachment in the Gulistan area for a long time. Recently, they forcibly locked the Nagar Plaza Market, vandalized the CCTV cameras inside and looted the computers. In this situation, ordinary businessmen were fed up and turned to Jamaat, but local leaders stood by the businessmen.”

The bloody clash began this afternoon when local businessmen and Jamaat activists organized a protest march in the Fulbaria area in protest.

Eyewitnesses and Jamaat leaders claim that as soon as the traders gathered for the procession, BNP leaders and activists launched a surprise attack with knives, rods and sticks. The area turned into a battlefield in an instant. 15-20 people were injured in the attack, several of whom were stabbed in broad daylight.

According to sources at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), a businessman and Jamaat leader named Md. Kabir Ahmed (45) was seriously stabbed in the clash. He is the president of Gulistan Ward Jamaat and a mobile parts dealer. He was admitted to the hospital’s emergency department in a bloody condition around 6 pm.

Denying the attack, Bangshal Thana BNP joint convener and former commissioner of ward number 34 Mohammad Mamun claimed, “The leaders and activists of BNP’s affiliated organizations were sitting at the Fulbaria Club. They basically guarded the place every day to prevent the Awami League’s sudden procession. But today, suddenly, Jamaat attacked from inside the Trade Center with sticks. Then the two groups faced off.”

Regarding the market occupation, he said, five people were officially given the responsibility of managing the market from the Department of Labor, but they were not being allowed to work. Later, Jubo Dal leader Ranju seated the people in charge in the presence of party people and police. The BNP leader is reluctant to call it a ‘market occupation’.

Additional police have been deployed in the area following the heated situation in Gulistan.

On Saturday evening, Deputy Commissioner of Lalbagh Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Muhammad Talebur Rahman said that there was some tension between the market and local shopkeepers. However, no major long-lasting clash took place. Currently, the situation is completely under control and normal.