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BNP feud goes to the extreme

Shaukat Mahmood & co ousted


Published : 22 Mar 2023 02:51 AM | Updated : 22 Mar 2023 01:29 PM

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has expelled its vice-chairman Shaukat Mahmood, who is also a journalist, from the party on charges of breaching discipline.

Md Taiful Islam Tipu, an assistant office secretary of BNP, in a press release issued on Tuesday said that as per the decision of the national standing committee of the BNP, its vice-chairman Shaukat Mahmood has been expelled from all the post and position of BNP. 

A member of the party's standing committee said that Farhad Mazhar and Shaukat Mahmood activated the 10-year-old organisation National Committee for Civil Rights (Jatiya Insaf Kayem Committee in Bangla) on March 16 at a five-star hotel in the capital.

The sudden activation of the committee once again created discomfort for BNP top leadership. Senior party leaders also criticized Shaukat Mahmood for this move.

The standing committee member mentioned: “Shaukat has been excluded from the party by the decision of Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of BNP. Ahead of the upcoming 12th National elections, BNP has kept some leaders of the party under close surveillance and Shaukat Mahmood was one of them.”

The press release issued on Tuesday signed by Taiful Islam Tipu reads; based on specific allegations of indulging in activities against party discipline, according to the decision of the BNP National Standing Committee, the vice chairman of the party, Shaukat Mahmood, who had been appointed as the primary member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has been expelled from all posts.

On March 16, some former army officers, teachers and politicians attended the banquet of “Insaf Committee” at Banani hotel. Although no BNP leader was present there, close associates to the party Mahmudur Rahman Manna and Oli Ahmed were present. A few other leaders were supposed to attend but they avoided the banquet.

Insaf committee Member Secretary Shaukat joined politics after the BNP's council in 2009 when he was named as an adviser to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. In 2016, he became one of the vice chairmen of the party.

In the last two years, the BNP issued him show-cause notices twice – for organizing discussions and protest programs ignoring the party's decisions.

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