Three deputy directors general (DDG), 11 directors and 9 deputy directors of Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Party (VDP) were allegedly behind the Sunday’s clashes between the protesters and students in front the Secretariat.
They had played a key role behind the scenes in the clashes between the Ansar-VDP members and protesters, alleged some senior leaders of the Anti-discrimination Students Movement.
Ansar-VDP men blocked all the entrances to the Secretariat and clashed with the students despite the government’s assurance of fulfilling their demands, they added. At least 50 people were injured in the clash. Hasnat Abdullah, one of the coordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, also sustained injuries.
According to a an unverified list, which was obtained by the Bangladesh Post, DDDs Dr Saifur Rahman, Md Fakrul Alam and Ziaul Ahsan the key suspects to the incident. Deputy Directors Aslam Sikder, Muhammad Mehedi Hasan, Dewan Matlubur Rahman, Ahsan Ullah, Nurul Amin, Kamrul Islam, Amin Uddin, Sarwar Jahan, Ashis Kumar Bhuttachariya, Syed Iftekhair AlI and Ashraf Hossian Siddiqui allegedly hatched a conspiracy to destabilise the interim government using the Ansar-VDP members.
Deputy Directors Alamgir Sikder, Mahabubur Rahman Sarker, Md Ammar Hossain, Naba Kumar Biswas, Nazmul Ashfaq, Md Rubel Uddin, Md Mainul Islam and Kaniz Fatema Shanta, were also the key suspects to the anti-government activities.
Some of these senior Ansar-VDP officers had also been involved in indiscriminately opening fire on the agitating students and protestors during the recent quota reform movement.
Sources claimed that around 90 percent officers who joined the Ansar andVDP from 30th to 39th BCS were the supporters of the fallen Sheikh Hasina-led government.
Meanwhile, around 400 Ansar members were produced before a Dhaka court on Monday after their arrest in the cases filed over the Sunday night’s clashes between demonstrators and students in front of the Secretariat. They were produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka in the casesfiled with Shahbagh, Ramna, Airport and Paltan police stations. The number of arrestees is likely to increase, court sources said.
On Sunday noon, Ansar-VDP members blocked all the five gates of the Secretariat, demanding the nationalisation of their jobs.
Ansar members took position in front of the Secretariat and its different gates, sealing off the administration hub.
Most of the Ansar battalion called off their protest and returned to work following discussion with Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Md Jahangir Alam. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Sunday said that they assured the demonstrating Ansar members of abolishing the “mandatory leave system.”
A seven-member committee was formed with Ansar and VDP DG Maj Gen Abdul Motaleb as convener, and its Director Jahanara Akter as member secretary to find a solution to their demand.
A clash between Dhaka University students and Ansar members, who are allegedly loyal to Awami League, erupted at the Secretariat around 9:00pm on Sunday as the news spread that key figures from the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, including Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah, were kept confined to the Secretariat.
Terming the Ansar members agents of autocracy, the students started marching towards the Secretariat around 9:00pm.
Maj Gen Abdul Motaleb Sazzad Mahmud, Director General of Ansar and VDP, said those who continued demonstrations even after getting the assurance of fulfilling their demand are not Ansar members, they are outsiders. They (Ansar members) gathered at the Secretariat wearing an additional set of clothes and their intension was suspicious, he added.
Students from several halls of Dhaka University gathered at the Raju Sculpture on the campus and then marched towards the Secretariat area, resulting in a clash between students and Ansar members.
