A leader of a faction of the Awami Olama League was stabbed at the national mosque in the capital after Jumma prayers yesterday.
Ilias Hossain Bin Helali, president of one of the Awami Olama League’s factions, was stabbed twice at the southern gate of Baitul Mukarram Mosque.
Witnesses caught the attacker Mujahidul Islam, 20, and handed him over to police. In preliminary questioning, Mujahidul claimed to be a member of banned Islamist extremist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT).
Akhter Hossain, joint secretary of Dhaka Metropolitan South Olama League, who witnessed the attack, said: “Just before Jumma prayers, a boy came to me, pointed towards Ilias and asked me whether or not he was Ilias Bin Helali. I said ‘yes,’ he thanked me and then stood to pray in the row behind us.”
Because a programme to mark August 21 was being held, at which Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was the chief guest, Helali asked his associates to remain until after his recitation of the Qur’an.
As he made his way out of the national mosque’s southern gate, Mujahid handed Ilias his shoes. As he was putting on his shoes, Mujahid stabbed Ilias in the neck and then in the abdomen.
Bystanders caught Mujahid red-handed and handed him over to Paltan police.
Ilias was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and was shifted to ward 102 after undergoing an hour-long operation.
Akhter said the attacker seemed “like an innocent.”
He says he would never have guessed that a boy of his appearance could have attempted cold-blooded murder.
Delwar Hossain, general secretary of the faction, said Ilias may have been attacked for making frequent speeches against Qaumi madrasas and the Jamaat-e-Islami. He said Ilias had received threats in the past.
Additional Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Crimes and Operations) Sheikh Mohammad Maruf Hasan said the attacker was previously involved with Shibir politics and was currently an Ansarullah member.
Shibir is the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Paltan police station Officer-in-Charge Golam Morshed said the arrestee had been handed over to the Detective Branch (DB) of police.
DB sources confirmed that Mujahid was in their custody and said he would be questioned after the programme arranged by the Olama League on Bangabandhu Avenue had concluded.
Police sources said the arrestee is an Alim student of Baitul Rasul Madrassa in Hazaribagh, where he lives and studies. Mujahid is from Araihazar upazila in Narayanganj, where his father Nazrul Islam is the imam of a local mosque, police sources said.
Trouble in paradise
The Dhaka Tribune has learned that rival Awami Olama League factions have been locked in a long-standing dispute over using the address of the party’s head office.
One of the warring factions of the pro-Awami League organisation of Islamists is led by Helali and Delwar; their rivals are led by others.
According to sources, Olama League factions run their activities separately and use different monograms. But they all use the same address as their head office – 23 Bangabandhu Avenue, where the Awami League central office is located.
An Olama League office was found on the second floor of the Awami League office. A person there who identified himself as Muaz Ibne Mudasser claimed to be the office secretary.
Shahid Chan Khadem, the organisation’s secretary of youth-related affairs, said the organisation has splintered into four or five factions.
The Helali-Delwar group is the dominant faction which works alongside the ruling Awami League, sharing its agenda. Other groups led by Ahad Ali, Bukhari and Moulana Ismail Hossain of Barisal operate under the same name but under different leaderships.
Shahid alleged that some factions had links to the Jamaat-e-Islami. He said these groups advocated for issues that had little to do with Awami League principles or agenda.
On August 8, one of the factions along with 12 like-minded organisations formed a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the capital. It sent a set of 17 demands to different media houses in a press release signed by Abdul Hasan Sheikh Shariatpuri who claimed to be the Olama League general secretary.
But Shahid claimed the Awami League high command does not recognise him.
He claimed members of several factions were on run after cases were filed against them, but declined to mention when and where the cases had been filed, or who had filed them.
Shahid said Health Minister Mohammad Nasim, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and former Bangladesh Chhatra League president Bodiuzzaman Sohag visited Ilias in the hospital, citing this as evidence that the Olama Awami League was an integral part of the party’s family of organisations.
However, an Awami League source, asking not to be named, said the Olama League did not have any regulatory ties to the party. They are an organisation which “shares the Awami League’s mindset and objectives,” he said.