NCP leader Mahmuda threatened again, told to leave country if she cares about her family

Mahmuda Alam Mitu, a Member of Parliament (MP) for the reserved women's seat nominated by the 11-party alliance led by Jamaat-e-Islami and a leader of the National Citizen's Party (NCP), has been threatened again.

On Sunday afternoon, while she was in the National Parliament, a phone call warned her, "If you care about your family, leave the country quickly. If not, you can stay; it’s not a problem."

In the evening, a message from the NCP was sent to the media announcing the threat. The NCP also sent an audio recording of a 2 minute and 40-second conversation between MP Mahmuda and the young male caller to the media.

The message from the party stated, "The call came at 5:29 PM. At that time, Mahmuda Alam was in the National Parliament."

In the recording, the supporter, affiliated with the Awami League, told NCP leader and doctor Mahmuda Alam, "You will be torn apart. So please, be careful. You must leave the country."

At one point, the young Awami League supporter told Mahmuda, "If you care about your family, leave the country quickly. If not, you can stay; it’s not a problem."

He ended the call by saying he would call again at the same time tomorrow, Monday.

Earlier, last Friday evening, Dr. Mahmuda Alam posted on her verified Facebook account about receiving threats. She wrote, "For the past seven days, I have been receiving death threats directly on the phone and WhatsApp. I received threats before, yet even if I report these, attempts might be made to downplay the issue like Nusrat's incident."

Amid various activities of the banned Awami League surrounding the announcement of the return of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, ousted in the July mass uprising, by December, a total of three NCP members, including Mahmuda, have faced threats and attacks.

The day Mahmuda posted about the threat on Facebook, the house of another NCP reserved seat MP Nusrat Tabassum in Kushtia was set on fire.

The previous day, in Moulvibazar's Sreemangal, Hasibul Islam, President of the NCP's student wing, Jatiya Chhatra Shakti's Dhaka University unit, was attacked with a machete.

Samantha Sharmin, who resigned from NCP on 5 November, has also faced threats. At noon today, a person identifying as a member of the student wing Chhatra League threatened to do 'Joy Bangla' meaning death threat over a WhatsApp call.