Rival BNP groups clash in city

Staff Reporter :Two rival groups of the BNP, were involved in a clash on Friday at the office of Dhaka city unit of the party at Bhashani Auditorium at Nayapaltan in the city. Bullets were exchanged during the clash. Police arrested seven persons from the spot. According to eyewitness, the city unit BNP leaders sat in the meeting with the leaders and workers of the Cantonment Thana unit for discussing the issue of forming the new committee of the unit. The leaders of the unit were divided into two parts centering delivering speech in the meeting. At one stage, they were involved in the clash inside and outside the office. Meanwhile, the unhappy leaders and workers of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of the BNP, continued their protest against formation of the new committee of the JCD, which was approved by BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda on Tuesday night. The angry JCD men, who were deprived of positions, and their followers staged demonstration in front of the BNP’s Nayapaltan central office on Friday. They brought out a procession in the area led by former vice president of the organisation Abu Sayeed and former organising secretary Anisur Rahman Talukder Khokon. Later, they addressed a rally in front of the party office. They staged demonstration also on Wednesday and Thursday in front of the Nayapaltan office, Chairperson’s Gulshan office and some other parts of the city in a show of rejection. Police arrested three JCD men from Nayapaltan on Wednesday when they were protesting against the new committee. Several hundreds of JCD men took part on Friday’s demonstration. The agitators said that eligibility of many were ignored to make room for selected ones. The new committee members are incompetent. They also alleged that the committee is a ‘pocket committee’ of BNP’s student affairs secretary Shaheed Uddin Chowdhury Annie and former JCD president Sultan Salahuddin Tuku. Anisur Rahman Talukder Khokon said that the agents of the government were included in the committee. Terming the committee illegal, he urged Khaleda Zia to cancel the committee without delay. He also said that they would continue their movement until the demand is met.Also urging for canceling the committee, Abu Sayeed said that they would announce their next course of action soon through a press conference.