Hartal in Companiganj tomorrow for 'insulting' Quader's family
The civil society has called a half-day (8am to 2pm) hartal in Noakhali's Companiganj upazila on Sunday.
The strike was called to protest the insults against the family of Awami League general secretary and road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader.
The protesters also demand for the repeal of the district Awami League committee and the expulsion of Ekramul Karim Chowdhury, the MP of Noakhali-4 constituency (Sadar and Subarnachar).
Abdul Quader Mirza, the younger brother of Obaidul Quader and newly elected mayor of Basurhat municipality, announced the programme at Basurhat Bangabandhu Chattar in Companiganj on Saturday morning.
At the same time, he also declared for a non-stop sit-in protest on Saturday, as a preparation for the hartal. Upazila Awami League has supported the hartal called by the civic society
Abdul Quader Mirza, brother of the bridge minister, confirmed the strike.
He said, the strike was announced in protest against MP Ekramul Karim Chowdhury's harsh remarks about the family of Liberation War commander and Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader in Companiganj.
He said the agitation would continue till MP Ekramul was expelled from the party, the district Awami League committee was canceled and action was taken against evil politics. The next programme will be announced after the strike from 6 am to 2 pm tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the freedom fighters held a press conference at Bangabandhu Chattar to protest against the insult to Obaidul Quader's family. They condemned the insults against Obaidul Quader's family. Upazila Awami League president Bir Khizir Hayat Khan and war-wounded freedom fighter Abu Nasser addressed the press conference.
The president of upazila Awami League and war veteran Khijir Hayat Khan told Prothom Alo that a committee was formed by the civil society to celebrate the victory of Abdul Quader Mirza in the mayoral election on 16 January. This committee has called a strike in Companiganj on Sunday. The upazila Awami League has expressed solidarity with them.
Earlier, Mohammad Ekramul Karim Chowdhury, MP of Noakhali-4 (Sadar and Subarnachar) constituency and the general secretary of the district Awami League, branded Obaidul Quader and Abdul Quader Mirza as members of the Razakar family in a Facebook live video on Thursday night.
However, the video message was removed from MP Ekramul Karim's Facebook account within minutes of the broadcast.
In another Facebook video on Friday, MP Ekramul claimed that he did not say anything about Obaidul Quader in the Facebook video the night before. He said he was addressing Abdul Quader Mirza. He requested the party leader and workers not to show any reaction on this issue.