Barisal BNP man hurt as cops open fire

A campaign worker of 18-party backed mayor aspirant Ahsan Habib Kamal had shotgun pellet injuries in Barisal city during a scuffle between police and workers of Kamal last night.
BNP youth wing Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal activist Md Harun-ur-Rashid, 40, was taken to Barisal Medical College Hospital. Doctors there took out seven pellets from his body and said he was out of danger.
Bilkis Jahan Shirin, secretary of district BNP, said some female campaign workers of Kamal were doing their jobs in Boiddyapara area around 8:00pm when police detained five of them for violating the electoral conduct.code of

 Hearing the news, mayor aspirant Kamal rushed to the spot and requested police to free his activists. But police ignoring the request opened fire on Kamal, Shirin claimed.

Babu, a witness , claimed that Harun got shot when he tried to protect Kamal from getting shot. Witnesses claimed that Harun was a bodyguard of Kamal.

However, Shakhawat Hossain, officer-in-charge of Barisal Police Station, claimed that police fired one shot to disperse a mob that was trying to take away the people they arrested on the orders of a mobile court.

He said police detained the five in connection with distributing flyers that used religious sentiment to slur mayor aspirant Shawkat Hossain Hiron.

In a press conference later in the night, Barisal police said it was going to file a case against the five women and Harun in connection with preventing law enforcers from doing their duty.

Following the incident, 18-party opposition alliance activists brought out a protest procession in Brisal.

Mojibor Rahman Sarwar MP, coordinator of the 18-party backed Jatiyatabadi Nagorik Parishad’s election campaign, said the incident proves that police and administration were biased towards the ruling party backed Hiron.