At least 38 people, including police officers, were injured in a clash between two rival factions over the shrine-mosque and 35 to 40 shop units belonging to the Hazrat Shah Toyeb Chhoylani (RA) waqf estate in the Silam area under Sylhet’s Moglabazar police station. Eight police officers, including Moglabazar police station officer-in-charge Md Monir Hossain, were injured while trying to stop the clash.
The clash broke out around 1 p.m. Friday, August 21, in front of the Hazrat Shah Toyeb Chhoylani (RA) Jame Mosque and Eidgah in the Chawkbazar area of Silam. The fighting, which lasted nearly two hours, also halted traffic on the Chandipul-Balaganj road.
According to police and local sources, a long-running dispute has persisted between two factions in the Silam Sheikhpara area over control of the Hazrat Shah Toyeb Chhoylani (RA) waqf estate. On Friday, members of both factions went to the mosque for Friday prayers. An argument first broke out outside the mosque over the estate’s shrine-mosque and shop units, which then turned into a scuffle. At one point, both sides clashed using brickbats and homemade weapons.
When Moglabazar police station officers arrived at the scene after receiving word of the clash, they too came under attack, triggering further exchanges. OC Md Monir Hossain and eight police officers were injured as a result. At least 25 to 30 people from the two factions were also injured.
Among the injured were the mosque’s mutawalli, Fazlu Mia, along with Shuaib Ahmed, Ariful Haque Rony, Latiful Rahman Mehdi and others. The injured are being treated at South Surma Upazila Health Complex and Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.
The situation was later brought under control through the combined efforts of Moglabazar police, local leaders and community elders. Police remain deployed in the area to maintain order.
The dispute over control of the waqf estate dates back further. On July 29, an order from the Bangladesh Waqf Administrator under the Religious Affairs Ministry approved a nine-member committee for the Hazrat Shah Toyeb Chhoylani (RA) shrine waqf estate. The committee named Sylhet-3 MP Mohammad Abdul Malik as chairman, the South Surma upazila executive officer as vice-chairman, and Md Fazlu Mia as mutawalli.
Abed Raza and Ahmedur Rahman Sadek were named joint mutawallis, while Moazzem Hossain Loni, Lutfur Rahman Babu, Abdul Matin Shahin and Abdus Samad were named members.
Shah Abdul Mannan filed a writ petition, numbered 10767/26, against that order in the High Court. The petition was heard on August 16 in Court No. 3 of the Bijoy-71 building of the Supreme Court’s High Court Division. The bench of Justice Md Habibul Gani and Justice Syed Md Tajrul Hossain upheld the committee approved by the Bangladesh Waqf Administrator.
However, the court temporarily suspended mutawalli Fazlu Mia’s activities under that committee and directed Abed Raza to serve as mutawalli, discharging the duties of the Hazrat Shah Toyeb Chhoylani (RA) shrine waqf estate and mosque in the meantime. A dispute between the two factions continued over this arrangement, which turned into Friday’s clash.
Confirming the incident Friday, Moglabazar police station OC Md Monir Hossain said eight police officers, including himself, were injured in the clash between the two factions. He said he received treatment at South Surma Upazila Health Complex, while seven officers remain under treatment at Police Lines Hospital. He said additional police remain deployed in the area and that the overall situation is now calm.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report