Residents of Bogra stunned

Date: March 7, 2013
Translation of article released in the Daily Prothom Alo: http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2013-03-07/news/334498

After the 3 day long violent processions ended and the curfew was lifted, the general public of Bogra were stunned at the sight of the city. They saw the devastated condition of Bogra rail station and the ruined name plate of Ajijul Hoque College; the burnt ruins of Iyakubia More, two courier service offices on Shohid Jabbar Shorok, one privately owned television office and an electronics store. The residence of the district Awami-League president was ravaged . So was the resident of a former MP. The Muktijoddha (Freedom fighter) Samsad of Shahjahanpur and the chamber of Awami-league activists of the sub-district were turned upside down.

Condition of the sub-district council office in Nandigram, Bogra after the attack and arson by Jamaat-Shibir activists.
Image Courtesy: Prothom Alo

Leaving the ruins of Bogra behind, after reaching village Nandigram anyone would would be taken aback at the sight of the devastated state of sub-district administration office. The office of sub-district executive officer, sub-district agriculture office, sub-district engineering office, office of sub-district project implementation officer, office of sub-district primary education officer, sub-district secondary education office, sub-district fishery office, sub-district youth development office and sub-distriction election office --- a total of 16 government offices were burnt beyond recognition. Sub-district chairman Rezaul Ashraf's office and residence next to the sub-district office was also burnt.

The smell of burning spread all around. Every furniture and documents in the two storey building of subdistrict council complex was burnt to ashes. Layers of the walls have come off. At dawn of last Sunday, Jamaat-shibir mobs have burnt it all down.

Every table, television, computer, telephone, fax machine, documents of every single room was burnt to ashes. All day long the employees of the sub-district office have been working hard at cleaning these office rooms. The government zip-car of UNO along with some other cars were burnt as well. The executive officer of Nandigram told Prothom-alo, "The attackers set fire to every room of every office. They burnt all government records and documents. All records of financial and development, binders containing information about employment, various government legal documents, debt, planning, voucher everything was set on fire. The financial loss have crossed over 10 crore BDT." He said, "We don't know what will happen to all the documentations that we have lost due to fire. But one thing for sure, I don't know of any destruction like this happening even within 100 years of the libration."

Police officers and locals mentioned, since 3 am on Sunday from various mosques people were spreading rumours and waging Jihad using microphones. The miking continued for a long time. Then at dawn, a few thousand armed people of Jamaat Shibir gathered and then attacked the sub-district office. They kept pouring petrol and burning offices one after another. They uprooted trees and electric poles and blocked the main road of Bogra-Nator so that none of the firetrucks can pass through. After an entire day of burning, the fire put out on the afternoon of the next day.

Security guard of the agriculture office who witnessed this frenzy mentioned, they brought rods, axes and various desi arms to bringdown the walls around the sub-district. Then they went into every government offices, poured petrol and set them on fire. Employee of the sub-district office described the same scenario saying, one team of the attacker brought petrol in containers that were used to set buildings on fire.

In a small building right next to the sub-district office was the primary education office. An assistant at that office, Emdadul, said, all the government documents, free books to be distributed to the children, exam papers, computers and storage -- everyone was set on fire. However, right across the street, the office of sub-district vice chairman of the opposition party BNP was not attacked. The office and residence of UP chairman and sub-district Jubo-league (youth wing of Awamileague) president was set on fire which were right behind the office of sub-district vice chairman of BNP.

In an interview by Prothom-alo Rezaul Ashraf said, after attacking the sub-district office, the attackers first set his office on fire. Then they approached his residence right next to his office. Neighbours then removed him, his wife, mother, sister and her 40 days old child from their residence. He claimed, the attackers spread gun powder and set his house on fire.

The residents of the area complained, the Jamaat-Shibir activists of Nandigram sub-district are responsible for these attacks. After the rumour of Sayeedi being seen on the moon , residents including women and children of all the nearby villages came out on the street. After which a lot of these people took part in the heinous attacks. A little further away from the opposite of the sub-district complex is the police station of Nandigram. Requiring the promise of anonymity, a lot of the locals mentioned, a lot of leaders and activists of BNP have also taken part in these attacks.

In a case filed in the Nandigram police office, the specifically accused list included sub-district Jamaat leader Nurul Islam Mondol, secretary Monjurul Islam, former UP chairman Anwarul Hoque along with 330 others. Around 5-6 thousand other anonymous people were also accused.

The locals complained, in the three hour long attack and burning of sub-district complex, the police didn't fire of a single round to control the situation. The officer in-charge of the police station Aminur Rahman was suspended for negligence of duty yesterday.

However, Aminur Rahman told reporters of Prothom Alo, "The miking began since 3:30 in the morning. After which I have repeatedly called local MP Mostofa Ali (BNP) and higher officers. I told the MP that activists of BNP are also participating in the attack. He said, in that case he would ask for them to be removed. But he didn't take any further actions. Around 6am, the attackers came and attacked the police station. We were only 10-12 officers in the station. The rest of them were outside"

When asked whether or not he fired his gun against the attackers, he said, "I fired some blanks"

Attack on the town: In the Kalitola area of the town, the 3 storey residence of Awami-league president of Bogra district was set on fire. A visit to the site revealed two cars and 3 motorbikes burnt in the garage. The drawing room of the ground floor was also burnt.

Momtaz Uddin said, a few thousand activists of Jamaat-Shibir lead this attack around 7:30 in the morning. After the drawing room was set on fire, fume spread everywhere. Me, my wife, my two sons, their wives and my grandchildren were in the house. We were suffocated but we could not get out. At one point we broke the grill at the back of the house and got out."

The 3 storey Bogra office of SA transport-courier service on the Sherpur road was set on fire after being looted by the attackers. The manager of the institution, Humayun, Kabir, said, "2 million BDT was looted from my organization by the attackers. Apart from that 20 million dollars worth of furnitures, medicines from 10 different pharmaceuticals, parcels etc. were burnt."

The attackers also looted and burn the Joleshwari Kortowa courier service office. Manager Jahidul Islam said, the attackers looted 400,000 BDT and burnt 10 million BDT worth of stuff.

On Sherpur road, private television station ATN Bangla and their organization ATN electronics got looted and then burnt by attackers. ATN electronics in-charge Ikbal Morshed said, their losses were worth 1.5 million BDT.

Police super of Bogra, Mojammel Hoque, told Prothom-Alo, analyzing the situation, anyone could understand that Jamaat-Shibir is not only against the police and the government; they have started a war against the nation. The brutality spread on Nandigram sub-district council complex beats the brutality of Pakistani army. By burning the national flag, map and 26 volumes of documentations on liberation they once again proved that they don't believe in the liberation of Bangladesh. The police super said, they have already started arresting the attackers.

Bogra district adminirstator Sarowar Mahmud said, this was extreme brutality. He had no idea anyone was capable of this type of destruction in the civilized era. He said, "We are trying to gather all the copies of the burnt papers and documentations. An investigation committee has also been formed for this incident"

Panic spreads again, curfew enforced: Yesterday afternoon during the protest of BNP a few cocktail bombs went off which spread panic once again. A CNG at Jamilnagar was set on fire. After this curfew was enforced after 12 am in seven sub-districts including the administrative headquarters for an indefinite period. The sub-districts are- Shahjahanpur, Nandigram, Dupchachia, Kahalu, Shibgonj and Gabtoli.

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