An election campaigner for 18-party alliance-backed mayor candidate Ahsan Habib Kamal has been injured after police opened fire on a group in Boidyapara area of the city Wednesday evening.
Harun-ur-Rashid, 40, was shot around 8pm when some female campaigners were campaigning in the area for Kamal. He was rushed to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Hospital. Duty doctors, after removing seven shotgun bullets, declared that his condition stable.
However, in a latest development, our correspondent from Barisal reported quoting hospital sources that Harun has been sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after his condition deteriorated around 10pm.
“He sustained injuries on chest near lungs and heart and although we were able to remove seven shotgun pellets from his body, he still needs more medical attention. That’s the reason why we referred him there (DMCH),” said a hospital official.
Bilkis Jahan Shirin, former lawmaker and district BNP general secretary, said police also detained five of the campaigners from the spot accusing them of violating election rules.
Informed, Kamal, who was busy in campaigning in the same area, rushed to the spot and requested police to free the female activists. But ignoring the request, police opened fire by shotgun, Shirin said.
Harun received bullets as he tried to save the mayor candidate, Babu, one of the witnesses of the incident, said.
Shakhawat Hossain, officer-in-charge of Barisal Kotwali Police Station, claimed that police fired one blank shot from shotgun to disperse a mob when they tried to snatch a group of female election campaigners from a mobile court.
He alleged that police detained the five campaigners for distributing “objectionable leaflets” against rival mayor candidate Shawkat Hossain Hiron and sent bullet-injured Harun to the hospital.
Following the incident, tension ran high in different areas of the city and the 18-party alliance activists brought out agitation processions protesting the police firing, what they claimed, was an attempt to kill mayor aspirant Kamal.
Mojibor Rahman Sarwar MP, also coordinator of the campaign for Kamal, said the incident proved the allegation of biasness of police and administration towards the ruling party-backed candidate.
The government would have to pay for ignoring our demand of deploying army, he warned.
