FARIDPUR — A Jamaat-e-Islami ward leader in Faridpur’s Nagarkanda upazila was hacked with a sharp weapon and beaten with a hammer on Wednesday night, in an attack the victim attributed to his refusal to vote for the rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
The attack took place around 9 p.m. near the Kadamtali bridge in Talma union, police said. The victim was taken to Faridpur Medical College Hospital, where he is being treated.
The injured leader is Alamgir Sheikh, 36, son of Halim Sheikh of Kadamtali village. He serves as president of Jamaat’s Ward No. 7 unit in Talma union, upazila Jamaat Amir Md. Sohrab Hossain confirmed.
Alamgir said his attackers, identified as Rashed Molla and Milon Sheikh, both of Kadamtali village, blocked his path as he was returning home from the market. “Your activities don’t look good to us. You have to vote for the paddy sheaf,” he quoted them as saying, referring to the BNP’s electoral symbol.
When he refused, saying he was a Jamaat member and would vote for his alliance’s candidate, the men attacked him with a hammer and a sharp weapon, he said. His party, Jamaat-e-Islami, has formed an alliance with Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis.
The local BNP denied the attack was politically motivated. Shawkat Sharif, organizing secretary of the upazila BNP, said the attack was real but stemmed from a land dispute between Alamgir and his rivals, not political rivalry.
Shah Akram Ali, the Jamaat-backed alliance candidate for the Faridpur-2 (Nagarkanda-Salthwa) seat, visited Alamgir at the hospital along with the upazila Jamaat Amir. “If this was not a case of political vengeance, why isn’t BNP leader Shawkat Sharif demanding the arrest of those responsible?” he said. He alleged the attackers were former Awami League supporters who had since joined the BNP and were now carrying out attacks and criminal activity in the area.
Nagarkanda police inspected the scene as soon as they received word of the incident, said Rasul Samdani Azad, the officer in charge of Nagarkanda thana. He said police had spoken with the Jamaat-backed alliance candidate and asked him to file a written complaint.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report