In the last five and a half years of Awami League rule, at least 13 BNP leaders and activists got killed in clashes between factions of the party and attacks by ruling AL men.
Repression by the AL was so persistent that it was difficult for BNP activists to engage in even routine political activities.
But after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina in early August, infighting within the BNP intensified with different groups trying to show their strength.
At least 14 BNP men were killed after August 5 — eight in factional clashes.
Law enforcers and party insiders say the clashes took place due to rivalries over supremacy and extortion money. Top BNP leaders recently expelled several local leaders for engaging in such acts.
The latest killing happened on Friday in Chattogram’s Changaon area: A Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal activist named Jobaer Uddin was stabbed to death during a clash between rival factions.
The BNP dissolved Chattogram city Jubo Dal after the clash.
A similar situation prevailed in the AL when the party was in power. Over 150 AL leaders and activists were killed, mostly by fellow party men, in the last five and a half years of the party’s rule.
According to Ain o Salish Kendra, three BNP men were killed in infighting or clashes with the AL in 2023, four each in 2022 and 2021, one each in 2020 and 2019.
Insiders say the recent spate of internal feuds stem from the confidence that the BNP will come to power winning the next general election and opportunist groups are now desperate to get a bigger slice of the pie when that happens.
Contacted, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on September 14 said some untoward incidents were taking place at the grassroots level.
“We are taking action after every incident. The occurrences will hopefully be fewer in the coming days,” he said.
Jasim Uddin, a Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal activist from Gafargaon upazila in Mymensingh, was one of the victims of BNP’s internal conflict.
According to police and locals, his rivals stabbed him to death on August 6 after he and his men attempted to gain control of a human haulier terminal.
The clash happened over extortion money, which used to be collected by AL leaders, they said.
Shamsunnahar, elder sister of the victim, said AL men in the last 15 years beat up his brother several times, even broke his arms and legs on one occasion.
“But this time my brother was brutally killed by BNP men… I want justice,” she said.
In Narail’s Lohagara upazila, two brothers — Miran Sheikh, 30, and Ziaur Sheikh, 40, — were killed and five others injured in a clash between two rival groups of BNP on September 10.
They were supporters of Ferdaus Sheikh, joint general secretary of Narail district BNP.
Biswas Jahangir Alam, president of Narail district BNP, said they have already directed the upazila level leaders so that such incidents do not recur.
“We have already talked to the central leaders. We will take steps to dismiss such leaders,” he told The Daily Star.
Some opportunists are now committing crimes including extortion and giving the BNP a bad name, he added.
A leader from another district said a section of leaders and activists have become BNP’s own rival.
Daily Star
