Fulgazi sans Ekram was likely to benefit both Joynal Hazari and Nizam Hazari – one a former MP of the area and the other the current.
Expelled Awami League leader Joynal Hazari, once called the “godfather” of the area, had been out of Feni for many years.
During the period from 2001 onwards that Joynal had not been in the area, slain Ekramul Haque, once close to Joynal, drew close to Nizam Hazari.
Nizam mainly emerged in Feni’s local politics after Joynal fled the country in 2001 as the BNP-led alliance came to power.
Things were not easy for Joynal, who used to be most powerful man in the area, even after he returned from exile. He found out that during his absence, Ekram and Nizam had built a strong clan.
In fact, Joynal’s relation with Ekram started deteriorating during the last days of his stay in the area before exile.
Back in those days, as a member of Joynal’s “steering committee,” Ekram had allegedly made a huge fortune by manipulating local tenders but had stopped keeping contacts with Joynal.
However, Ekram’s good terms with Nizam started going haywire. Reportedly, Nizam realised that Ekram was a barrier for his ambitions.
In January, Nizam was elected a lawmaker from Fulgazi while a month later, Ekram was elected the upazila chairman.
Local residents said Ekram wanted to run against Nizam in the January parliamentary election.
Nizam saw that Ekram had been controlling nearly all the tenders floated for infrastructural works in the area. Moreover, taking advantage of Joynal’s absence, Ekram had established supremacy in Fulgazi.
The conflict between the two peaked recently centring the construction of the Feni Diabetic Hospital. Their supporters locked into a clash after one of Nizam’s associates locked the hospital.
According to local politicians, there was one other big reason why Ekram was dangerous for Nizam. They said the deceased was the witness of all of Nizam’s wrongdoings and crimes.
Recently, after a national Bangla daily published a report on Nizam’s activities, he started fearing that Ekram might have tipped off the daily.
As things started going wrong with Nizam, Ekram drew close to Joynal again.
When contacted, Joynal Hazari told the Dhaka Tribune that he had nothing to do with the murder of Ekram.
Claiming that it was now clear who had been behind the murder, Hazari said he had all kinds to proof and was ready to hand them over to the investigators if they consulted him.
On the other hand, Nizam told the Dhaka Tribune: “Investigation is underway. We hope that the mystery would be solved soon.”
Although local BNP leader Mahtab Uddin Chowdhury Minar’s name was included in the list of accused of the case filed in connection with the murder of Ekram, interestingly, even the plaintiff did not believe that he was involved.
Ekram’ brother Jasim, plaintiff of the case, has said before that Minar was made an accused only because his men had attacked Ekram twice during the upazila parishad election.
When contacted, Minar said: “It is true that I contested the upazila election against Ekram. But a gruesome killing like that is beyond my imagination. The allegations against me are totally baseless. A group of people are trying to lead the investigation astray.”
Abdur Rahman, president of Feni district Awami League, said a vested interest had been trying to tarnish the ruling party’s image through pre-planned activities.
Abu Taher, acting president of Feni district unit BNP, said: “It is now clear to all that Ekram was killed because of Awami League internal conflicts. None of our party members was involved with it.”