Alert against further sectarian trouble in panchagarh

Protesters clash in Panchagarh over an Ahmadiya Jalsa.

Panchagarh,Mar 4 -Members of the law enforcement agencies including Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have been patrolling the Sadar upazila of Panchagarh district on Saturday  to ward off further trouble,  a day after the violence over an Ahmadiyya religious event that left 2 people and dozens injured.

Though the law enforcers are on high alert, a tense situation has been prevailing in the area.

Md AbdulLatif Miah, officer-in-charge of Sadar police station, said the law enforcers have been deployed at several points to avoid further disturbance.

The bodies of the deceased were handed over to their families without autopsies following the request by their relatives around 1pm, he said.

The Ahmidyya community will hold a press conference over the issue at Salana Jalsa village at 3pm, the OC said, adding that security were beefed up.

He also said that neither any case has so far been lodged in this connection nor anyone arrested.

The Ahmadiyya devotees, who gathered at the Salana village to attend their scheduled event,were seen going back to their respective destinations on Saturday morning after the event was suspended for an indefinite period on Friday night.

Two men were killed and at least 50 people sustained injuries in the clash of a section of Muslim devotees and police demanding the closure of a Qadiani Salana Jalsa in Panchagarh town on Friday

After the Jummah prayers, devotees gathered from some mosques in Panchagarh municipality area and started a protest march.

Then they went to Panchagarh town staging an agitation there. At one point they marched towards the Qadianis Jalsa in the Ahmed Nagar area.

As police stopped the procession at Panchagarh Chowrangi intersection, the protesters became angry and started throwing brickbats at the police in the city's cinema hall road area.

Police had to move back at one point due to the protest procession. At least 30 people were injured.

Shops in Panchagarh town closed as the violence spread panic among the people. The angry mob also looted around 20 houses of the Qadianis located in Ahmednagar. - UNB