A motorcade carrying the wife of former BNP Oraganising Secretary M Ilyas Ali came under attack on Tuesday while she was campaigning in favour of the party’s Sylhet divisional rally slated for November 19.   However, police detained three leaders of the BNP’s student wing Jatiyatabi Chattra Dal (JCD) in this connection. The detainees were Osmaninagar upazila unit JCD’s Joint Convener Faisal Ahmed, and JCD leaders Nurul Islam and Shahed Ahmed.  Local BNP insiders alleged that a group of the Awami League’s student front Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) carried out the attack when Ilyas Ali’s wife Tahsina Rushdi Luna, also an advisor to the BNP’s Chairperson Khaleda Zia, got on her vehicle after campaigning in the Goyalabzar area of Osmaninagar upazila in the district in the afternoon. Read more: BNP gears up for its 7th divisional rally in Sylhet The upazila unit BNP General Secretary Abdullah Misbah was also injured in the attack, they claimed. Soon after the attack, the BNP leader with her motorcade left the spot for Tajpur Bazar where she distributed leaflets for the upcoming rally. From there, she continued on to Dayamir Bazar, and that is where the police detained the trio of JCD men who were campaigning with her.   Nazmul Islam, president of the district unit BCL, denied their involvement in the attack.  “No BCL man is involved with the attack and the BNP is making a false allegation,” he claimed. SM Mayeen Uddin, Officer-in-Charge of Osmaninagar police station, acknowledged that they detained the three JCD men in connection with the attack on motorcade. Read more: BNP’s Sylhet divisional rally on Nov 19 instead of 20 He said they were detained for questioning regarding the clash they got into with Awami League and BCL men.

The Supreme Court's Appellate Division Sunday upheld its chamber judge's order that stayed the High Court bail to seven convicts in a case filed over the attack on the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina's motorcade in Satkhira in 2002, and extended it till June 20. The court also asked the state to file a leave to appeal in this connection within this time. Also, the Appellate Division has fixed June 20 for the hearing on the leave to appeal. A full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order Sunday after hearing the state's appeal. READ: Attack on Sheikh Hasina: SC stays bail of 7 accused Attorney General AM Amin Uddin represented the state while Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon stood for the convicts. On May 25, the High Court granted bail to seven convicts in the case – Abdus Sattar, Abdus Samad, Golam Rasul, Rakib, Zahirul, Shahabuddin and Monirul Islam. However, on May 27, the Appellate Division's Chamber Judge Justice Hasan Foez Siddique stayed the bail order until today. READ: Attack on Hasina: 43 convicts file petition challenging lower court verdict On August 30, 2002, the then opposition leader and incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's convoy came under attack as she was returning to Magura after visiting a freedom fighter's wife in Satkhira's Kalaroa. Although Hasina survived the attack relatively unscathed, at least 12 people, including Awami League leaders and journalists, were injured, according to the case statement. On September 2 of that year, former Kolaroa Awami League general secretary Moslem Uddin filed the case against 27 named and 70-75 unnamed accused. The accused included several BNP leaders and activists in Satkhira. However, the case was later dismissed for not being recorded at the police station. On February 4 this year, Satkhira Chief Judicial Magistrate Court convicted and sentenced 50 people in the case. READ: 30 BNP men sent to jail over 1994 attack on Hasina in Pabna Among them, 34 convicts who were present in the courtroom, were sent behind bars the same day; the others are running away.