NN ONLINE:
Police in Goalanda, Rajbari, have filed a case against around 3,500 unidentified individuals in connection with an attack on law enforcement officers during clashes at the shrine of Nurul Haque, commonly known as “Nural Pagla.” Md Rakibul Islam, the chief of Goalanda Ghat Police Station, said the case was registered in the early hours of Saturday. The violence erupted Friday afternoon in Juron Mollapara, Ward 5 of Goalanda municipality, where the shrine is located.
Nurul Haque, who proclaimed himself Imam Mahdi, an end-times religious figure in Shia Islam, had recently died and was buried in a grave positioned slightly above ground level and styled similarly to the Kaaba, the holiest site in Islam. This design provoked anger among the Tawhidi Janata, an Islamist movement that positions itself as guardian of Islamic morality and had been staging protests in recent days. Local authorities had been mediating between factions.
According to Rakibul, after Friday Jummah prayers, the Tawhidi Janata organized a protest march that escalated into an attack on the shrine. In response, followers of Nurul Haque clashed with them, resulting in a fatality and about 50 injuries. The mob later stormed the shrine and set it on fire. Police, trying to control the situation, were attacked, with at least one police vehicle vandalized.
Since the incident, security forces have been stationed around the shrine, which remains under police control. Public access to the site has been suspended.
