Jubo Dal leader kidnapped: People suffer as students block road

The Student Anti-Discrimination Movement today blocked the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway in protest against the abduction of a Jubo Dal leader by his followers from a police station in Munshiganj.

The students demonstrated near Dhaleshwari toll plaza in south Keraniganj around 12:00 pm, chanting slogans and arresting those involved, said Abdul Quader Jilani, officer-in-charge of Hasara highway police station. .

After about an hour, the students cleared the highway following assurances from senior police officials that they would take immediate legal action against the perpetrators, he added.

The hour-long blockade caused a long traffic jam on the highway, causing public suffering.

Sazzadur Rahman, a resident of Lauhajang area traveling from Dhaka, said: “My elderly mother is sick in my village house. I am going there to take her to Dhaka for admission to a hospital. But I am stuck in traffic. congestion for a long time.”

A bus driver from Ilish Paribahan said: “What is our fault? Hundreds of passengers and transport operators are stuck here for hours…”

Earlier on Friday, Tariqul Islam, joint coordinator of Munshiganj Sreenagar upazila Jubo Dal committee, was arrested in connection with a case of violence in Deulbhog area under the same upazila.

About four hours later, around 200 Jubo Dal and Chhatra Dal activists stormed the police station and took him away, said Sreenagar police station OC Quaiyum Uddin Chowdhury.

Today, the police registered a case against 31 identified people and 160 to 170 other unidentified people in connection with the incident, said Anisur Rahman, additional superintendent of police in Munshiganj.

“While the accused were being taken away, they beat and injured the policemen. The police are conducting raids in different areas to arrest Tariqul and other accused,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tariqul has been expelled from Jubo Dal.

Last night, a press statement signed by Minhajul Islam Bhuiyan, joint secretary of Jubo Dal’s central executive committee, confirmed the expulsion.

He was expelled for obstructing law enforcement agencies in the performance of their duties through undue influence, the statement said, adding that all Jubo Dal leaders and activists have been instructed not to maintain any organizational relationship with him.

The statement further said that the youth wing of the BNP will not be responsible for any misdeeds of the expelled leader.

Jubo Dal district member secretary Md Masud Rana said: “Our party will not tolerate any injustice.”

In another development, Sreenagar police station OC Qaiyum Uddin Chowdhury has been withdrawn.

Munshiganj Superintendent of Police Muhammad Shamsul Alam Sarkar said the OC has been attached to the district police lines.

He also said that three Jubo Dal leaders and activists were arrested last night from different places in the district after the incident.