Hanif pledges stringent action against Hefazat rampage

Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif has promised strict action against those involved in the violent protests of Hefazat-e-Islam in Brahmanbaria.

"We will ask the premier to bring the miscreants under the law and punish them severely for committing such act in an independent state," he said while visiting Brahmanbaria Press Club with a delegation of central Awami League on Wednesday, two days after the activists of Hifazat-e-Islam attacked and vandalized several public and private establishments including the press club. Several journalists were injured during the incident.

He accused BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami for carrying out the destructive mayhem and tarnish the country's reputation, depending on the shoulders of Hefazat-e-Islam, especially at the time when the country is celebrating the golden jubilee of its independence.

"Hefazat activists in Brahmanbaria are not supposed to get hold of the gunpowder used during the protests," he said adding, "We saw the use of this gunpowder in 1971 and in various subversive activities of Jamaat."

Earlier, the Islamist group locked into sporadic clashes, which killed 14 people, with law enforcement agencies from Friday to Sunday in Brahmanbaria, Chattogram, Dhaka and Narayanganj during their protests and hartal over Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bangladesh visit.

Among others, Brahmanbaria-3 (Sadar and Vijayanagar) MP A M Obaidul Moktadir Chowdhury, Central Awami League Office Secretary Biplob Barua, Information and Research Secretary Selim Mahmud, Finance and Planning Secretary Wasika Ayesha Khan, Central Volunteer League Leader Moin Uddin, Brahmanbaria District Awami League General Secretary Al Mamun Sarkar and Central Juba League Joint Secretary Md Al-Aminul Haque were present during Hanif's visit to Brahmanbaria.

Later, Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif and a delegation from the Central Awami League toured the government and non-government facilities damaged by the Hefazat rampage.