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| Bangladesh |
| Jamaat fails to hold Ctg conference |
| 2010-04-12 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Central Jamaat leaders had to leave the port city yesterday without holding a scheduled conference in the face of strong protests. Activists of different organisations had been surrounding the conference venue since noon with slogans calling Jamaat an anti-liberation force. Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, senior assistant secretary general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Dhaka city unit secretary Hamidur Rahman Azad, also a lawmaker, had arrived here in the afternoon to join the conference. Sources said around three thousand Jamaat men from different districts and upazilas were supposed to attend the conference of the party's Chittagong divisional representatives. It was scheduled to be held at a community centre in the city's Sirajudoullah Road around 3:00pm. Three platoons of police were deployed in the area since morning. Tension mounted as Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad gathered near the venue around noon and held a rally setting up a stage. A huge procession of Chhatra Sangram Parishad -- a forum comprised of Chhatra League, Bangladesh Chhatra Moitree and Chhatra Samiti -- arrived on the scene around 3:30pm. Bangladesh Jubo and Swechchhasebak League also joined afterwards. The protesters held a rally where the speakers termed Mojahid and Kamaruzzaman collaborators and vowed to resist them attending any programme in Chittagong. Law enforcers urged the Jamaat activists present at the venue to cancel the event. Meanwhile, the Jamaat high-ups arrived. Barred by police from entering the venue, the leaders left the place and tried to hold a press briefing at the party's city unit office -- some 500 yards off the community centre. Law enforcers, however, refused to allow any press briefing, instead cordoned off the office where the Jamaat leaders were staying. Hearing about Mojahid's presence, the agitators brought out a procession and gathered near the Jamaat office around 5:00pm. They tried to encircle it, but police foiled the attempt. Finally, the situation calmed down when Jamaat leaders in three microbuses left for Dhaka around 5:30pm. Jamaat's Chittagong city unit Ameer Shamsul Islam told The Daily Star, "Police illegally barred us from doing our organisational activities." "We stopped the programme showing respect to the law," he said. Chittagong Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner (north) Banaj Kumar Majumder said, as unpleasant incidents took place at different places centring presence of Mujahid, police didn't allow Jamaat to hold the conference for the sake of law and order. Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad Chittagong city Convener Syed Fahim Uddin said, they wouldn't allow any identified collaborator in Chittagong. |
| Posted by:Fred |