Watch: Joynal Hazari accuses AL lawmaker Nizam Hazari of attacks on Khaleda’s motorcade

Former Awami League lawmaker Joynal Hazari has accused Nizam Hazari, incumbent lawmaker of the same party from Feni 2 constituency, of the attacks on BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s motorcade. Joynal in a video clip on his Facebook account claimed that Nizam perpetrated the attacks according to what Joynal says were instructions from the party’s central leaders. The 34-minute clip also features a 2-minute audio track, in which Nizam was heard at a gathering conveying thanks from the Awami League top brass to local leaders and activists for executing the instructions. However, it is unclear in Nizam’s speech whether the instructions were to launch an attack or to stay alert to prevent possible untoward situations centring on the BNP chief’s visit. On October 28, Khaleda’s motorcade came under an attack at Mohammed Ali Bazar near Feni, when she was heading towards Cox’s Bazar to distribute relief goods among the persecuted Rohingya people who have taken shelter there to escape violence in the Rakine state of Myanmar. At least four vehicles, mostly belonging to the press, were vandalised in the attack, and several journalists were beaten by the assailants. On October 31, three days later, when she was returning to Dhaka from Cox’s Bazar, unidentified miscreants hurled “petrol bombs” at two buses near her motorcade while it was crossing Feni sadar upazila. Soon after the incidents, BNP leaders, including Khaleda, alleged that leaders and activists of the Awami League carried out the attacks. The ruling party, however, denied the allegations outright, saying that the incidents were the result of internal feuds between BNP leaders. Meanwhile, some 77 people, including local leaders and activists of BNP and its student front Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, were accused in a case filed in connection with the attacks. Nineteen of them have so far been arrested. One of the arrestees, Nure Salam Milon, president of the Fazilpur union unit JCD, confessed to being involved in the attacks though his family alleged that police coerced Milon into making the statement by torturing him with electric shocks and threatening to kill him. Milon’s father Ahmed alleged: “I visited my son in jail on Thursday and felt sick after seeing the signs of brutal torture by police on his body. He broke in tears while describing his time in police custody. “At one point, Milon lost consciousness due to the torture. When he woke up, police asked him what his last wishes were after taking him to the Lalpool area on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway to kill him.” BNP’s Feni district President Abu Taher claimed Milon was in the motorcade on October 28, and on October 32 he was busy assisting fire brigade and police personnel in dousing fires that originated from the explosion. “There’s plenty of footage of Milon talking to journalists after the two incidents,” Taher added. He alleged that law enforcers, assisted by a local Awami League leader, coerced him into making this statement. Describing the allegations against them as “baseless,” Feni Model police station Officer-in-Charge Rashed Khan Choudhury said those who made the accusations of coercion are trying to cover up the truth.