Police surround Basurhat municipal building with Quader Mirza inside

Speculations spread around the district that Abdul Quader Mirza, the Basurhat pourashava mayor of Companiganj, Noakhali, would be arrested Friday morning. However, till 10:00am, that remained a speculation.

The police have surrounded the municipal building where Quader Mirza has spent the night. He is accompanied by a few of his loyalists.

Over 300 police and RAB members have been deployed there to keep the overall law and order situation in Basurhat under control. Several senior officers, including a police super of Chattogram Range, are there too, overseeing the situation.

The police claim that everything is normal at Basurhat at the moment and there is no problem. Meanwhile, it has been learnt that the upazila Awami League organising secretary Mizanur Rahman Badal, a rival of Quader Mirza, arrested on Thursday from the district town, will be shown as arrested for launching an attack, damaging property and opening fire.

Police and various local sources have said that late Thursday night there were strong speculations that police may arrest Abdul Quader Mirza, the controversial mayor of Basurhat and younger brother of road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, early Friday morning.

Tension prevailed all around. Newsmen reached the area before daybreak, but the situation remained unchanged. Quader Mirza was within his municipal office and the police had surrounded the building. They spent the entire night there.

Meanwhile, Emdad Hossain alias Raju, the younger brother of Alauddin who was killed in clashes on Tuesday, went to the police station at around 8:30pm Thursday night with a written complaint, naming Quader Mirza as the main accused.

However, Emdad Hossain told Prothom Alo, the police did not record his complaint, telling him to drop Quader Mirza's name as an accused and saying there were other discrepancies in the complaint.

District superintendent of police Md Alamgir, speaking to Prothom Alo about the matter, said that the brother of the deceased Alauddin had come to the police station with a case. There were errors in the complaint, including the names of some of the witnesses so he had taken it back for corrections.

When asked if they had told him to drop Quader Mirza's name, SP Alamgir Hossain said, "No, why would we?"

The SP told Prothom Alo that over 300 police personnel had been deployed to keep the overall law and order situation in Basurhat under control. Two RAB teams were also there. The situation at present was peaceful and there was no problem anywhere.

Officer-in-charge (OC) of the Companiganj police station, Mir Zahedul Huq, said that the upazila Awami League organising secretary Mizanur Rahman Badal, arrested on Thursday from the district town, will be shown as arrested in a case in an incident of attack and damaging property at the municipal building as well as for injuries in gunfire.

He told Prothom Alo, there are several other cases under investigation against Mizanur Rahman.

There had been an exchange of fire on 19 February at Chaprashirhat, Companiganj, during clashes between the supporters of Abdul Quader Mirza and Mizanur Rahman Badal. Journalist Burhan Uddin Muzakkir was injured in the gunfire and was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment, where he expired on 20 February.

At 9:00pm on 9 March, armed clashes between the two sides broke out again in the Basurhat municipal campus. Jubo League activist Alauddin, 32, was shot and killed in the incident.