A case has been filed in Bhurungamari, Kurigram, over the alleged assault of the upazila agriculture officer and other government officials, and obstruction of government work, during a protest and road blockade demanding fertiliser. The case names 11 people along with 50 to 60 unidentified others. Police have arrested two of the named accused.
The two arrested are Al Amin Molla and Suruj Mia, both of Ganaiyerkuti village in the upazila. With unidentified accused also named in the case, ordinary local farmers are living in fear of arrest and harassment. They say they have become accused in a case simply for protesting over fertiliser, and many are avoiding staying at home at night for fear of arrest.
Last Monday, local farmers held a protest and blocked a road at Pateshwari Bridge area in Sonahat union of the upazila, demanding fertiliser. At one point, upazila agriculture officer Abdul Jabbar was confined by the crowd. He filed a case at Bhurungamari police station the following day, after which police arrested two people.
According to the case statement, BADC fertiliser dealer Messrs Afi Sar Ghar’s warehouse in the upazila had an allocation of 487 sacks of fertiliser for September, including 235 sacks of DAP, 95 of TSP and 157 of MOP. On Monday around 8:30am, upazila agriculture officer Abdul Jabbar and other relevant officials went to the warehouse to distribute the fertiliser at the government-fixed price, where farmers’ national ID cards were being collected and verified.
In the case statement, the agriculture officer alleged that several people began shouting during the verification process. Around 11:35am, he and the officials with him were verbally abused. He said that while they were later being moved to a safe location, they were attacked and beaten with fists, injuring several of them.
The complaint further alleges that after the attack, the officials were confined in a room and threatened with death, before police arrived and rescued them. The injured agriculture officer received treatment at the upazila health complex.
However, several local farmers claim they had gone to the dealer hoping to buy fertiliser at the government-fixed price for the Aman season, and protested and blocked the road out of fear they would not get any. None of them, they say, attacked the agriculture officer.
A farmer from the Shaheed Mor area, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Is asking for fertiliser a crime for us? We didn’t hurt anyone. We sat down in the road because we couldn’t get fertiliser. But police filed a case and took two people away. Now police come to the village every night. We work all day in the sun. Even as unidentified accused, they could pick us up any time. There’s no way to sleep at home at night anymore.”
Another farmer said they have essentially been driven from their homes by fear of arrest. “Is asking for fertiliser now our crime?” he said.
Meanwhile, Jatiya Krishok Shakti, an affiliate organisation of the National Citizen Party (NCP), has expressed deep concern and outrage over the case, arrests and naming of unidentified persons as accused against farmers who protested over fertiliser. In a statement issued Saturday afternoon, the organisation said that creating an environment of cases and arrests against farmers, without resolving the fertiliser shortage or complaints of irregularity or discrimination in distribution, is unacceptable. It said no innocent farmer should be subjected to harassment or arbitrary arrest.
Bhurungamari police station officer-in-charge Azim Uddin said the actual culprits would be brought to justice after analysing video footage of the incident, and that no innocent person would be arrested.