A stone quarry worker who was shot and injured allegedly by the members of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) at the Korotoa River at Bagulahagi in Tetulia upazila, died on Sunday night. The deceased was identified as Palash Hossain, 35, son of Abdur Rahman of Bagulahagi village. Lieutenant Colonel Zubayed Hasan, commanding officer of BGB-15, said Palash along with some other Bangladeshi nationals were collecting stones from the Korotoa River at noon. At one stage, the BSF members from Gingrich camp opened fire on them, leaving Palash injured. Later, he was taken to Panchagarh Modern Hospital from where he was sent to Rangpur Medical College and Hospital for better treatment. But later at night, he succumbed to his injuries at the Rangpur Medical College and Hospital. However, BGB members sent a letter to BSF protesting the incident.

Reacting to Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir calling the Ahmadiyya community’s recent religious event in Panchagarh “controversial”, a spokesperson of the community said it “goes against their constitutional right”. “The government gave permission to hold this controversial event,” Fakhrul said in a press conference on March 13, video of which has generated reaction among netizens on social media. Speaking on the issue, Ahmad Tabsir Chowdhury, a spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya community, said, “First, Mirza  Fakhrul puts the blame squarely on the government, saying the attack on our religious event was staged by the government to divert public attention, and now he finds it convenient to call our congregation ‘controversial’.” Also Read: Fakhrul says govt allowed the Ahmadiyya religious event, calls it ‘controversial’ Referring to their constitutional right, Ahmad said, “Our religious gathering was set to be held within our premises. We have a right to hold such peaceful events.” Ahmad questioned: “How can he disregard our rights by calling our congregation ‘controversial’? We didn’t seek permission from the government to hold our event in a busy commercial area like Paltan in Dhaka. Rather, we planned to hold it inside our premises, it was on our property.” “When such irresponsible remarks come directly from a major political leader like Fakhrul, we are gravely disheartened,” the Ahmadiyya community spokesperson said. He further requested all political parties to at least maintain a modicum of decency while making comments on issues involving any minority community. Also Read: Govt orchestrated attacks on Ahmadiyya only to gain political mileage: Fakhrul Fakhrul’s remark came at a time when Basherkella – a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami Twitter account – condemned police action to stop the violence over the Ahmadiyya religious event and called for “boycotting” the community. The Ahmadiyya community has called it a “hate campaign” against them. Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Acting Secretary General Maulana ATM Masum issued a statement on March 5, asking the government to officially declare the Ahmadiyya community “non-Muslim”.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Monday said  that majority of the attackers on Qadiani community’s event ‘Salana Jalsa’ are BNP and Jamaat supporters. “Police have the names of those people who carried out the attack on Qadiani community’s event ‘Salana Jalsa’ in Panchagarh. Most of them were BNP-Jamaat supporters.  They created chaos and attacked there.  The incident took two lives”, said Hasan Mahmud. The minister made the remarks while sharing views with the newly elected committee of Bangladesh PhotoJournalist Association at secretariat. Mentioning that Panchagarh occurrence was not any isolated incident the minister said that as the BNP does politics with communal extremist groups they are trying to make more such incidents happen.  Read more: Jammat, BNP involved in Panchagarh violence: Asaduzzaman “It is being looked into whether the Rohingya camp incident was related to any sabotage,” said Hasan Mahmud while replying to a question about the recent fire incidents. He also claimed that the Science Lab building explosion and the Sitakunda fire were just accidents.  

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Monday held Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP responsible for anti-Ahmadyya violence in Panchagarh that left two people dead and dozens injured. Talking to reporters at his Secretariat office the home minister said that local Jamaat activists and BNP leaders were involved in obstructing the Ahmadyyas from holding their religious event and besides torching their houses. He said several thousand Ahmadyyas live in the area and their Salna Jalsa has been an annual event there.“But this year, the activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and BNP leaders obstructed them. They also carried out arson attacks on their houses and raided the venue of event,” he said.He said the clashes claimed a member of the Ahmadyya community, while an activist of Jamaat-e-Islami died during the violence, he said. Earlier reports said that the violence on Friday left two people killed and at least 50 others injured.Already seven cases have been filed in this connection while 81 people have been arrested so far. BNP leader Fazle Rabbi was among the arrestees, said the minister. Read more: Clash over Ahmadiyya event: Over 8,200 sued, 81 arrested in PanchagarhFollowing interrogation, Fazle Rabbi admitted that he was there to stop the religious event and he also led the protest from behind the scenes, said Asaduzzaman.A RAB member was also injured and a vehicle of the agency was also vandalised during the violence, he said.However, the situation in the area is normal now and more cases are under way, he added.Replying to a question about any advance information from an intelligence source about the Panchagarh incident, the minister said “Efforts are on to investigate why the members of the community got so angry this year? Whether there is any negligence on the part of law enforcers will be found out. Already a probe committee has been formed in this connection and action will be taken if we find any negligence over the issue.”Responding to a question about the BNP allegation that the government has created the incident to repress the BNP, the minister said “Awami League never goes against the people of the country. Where Awami League is in charge of providing security to the people then why would they do such an incident? Those who were behind the incident are spreading rumours to hide them.” On the massive fire at Cox’s Bazar Rohingya camp, Asaduzzaman said the government is investigating whether there was any sabotage in it.“We are investigating to find out what caused the fire and whether there was any sabotage or conspiracy,” he said.The government has taken steps for sheltering those who lost their houses in the fire. He said Rohingyas can go to Bhashan Char as the government has taken huge preparation for resettling the displaced Myanmar nationals on the island. “If they want they can go voluntarily they will be taken there,” he said.

Demanding that the government officially declare the Ahmadiyya community “non-Muslim”, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s Acting Secretary General Maulana ATM Masum issued a statement on March 5. The statement released on Jamaat’s website says: “Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country where 90 percent people are Muslims. In this country, Qadiani (Ahmadiyya) community is committing reckless activities against Islam. The Islam-loving people will never accept it. The government’s role in this regard is questionable.” “The government should resolve the Qadiani crisis permanently paying full heed to the public views and also to declare Qadiani Non-Muslim officially,” the statement added. On Friday, a protest march against an Ahmadiyya religious event moved towards the Ahmednagar area in Panchagarh. As police stopped the procession at Chowrangi intersection, the men started throwing brickbats at the law enforcers, according to reports. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to disperse them, witnesses said. Two men died and scores, including policemen, sustained injuries in the clash. Some journalists covering the violence were also among the injured. Shops in Panchagarh town were closed down as violence induced panic among people. The angry mob also looted around 20 houses belonging to the Ahmadiyya community located in Ahmednagar. According to a report published in The Daily Star today, the Ahmadiyya community in Panchagarh district are living in fear of further attacks from hardliners. Many members of the community, particularly the elderly, women and children, have left their houses and are taking shelter in educational institutions or relatives’ homes, adds the report. Meanwhile, since Friday’s violence, a series of tweets were posted from the verified account of Basherkella – known as a “Jamaat mouthpiece” – with “police brutality” and “boycott Qadiani (Ahmadiyya)” in hashtags. Members of the community are calling this a “hate campaign” against Ahmadiyyas.

Six cases have been filed and 81 people arrested in connection with the clashes between police and Muslim devotees over ‘Salana Jalsa’ event of the Ahmadiyya community on Friday (March 03, 2023). Among those, police filed four cases with Panchagarh Sadar Police Station, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) filed two cases and Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat another case. A total of 31 named people and 8,200 unnamed ones were made accused in the cases on various charges including spreading rumours, attacks, vandalism, looting and obstructing government work, according to police. Fazle Rabbi, 28, of the Rajnagar area and Rabbi Emon, (26) of the Satmera area of Tentulia upazila were arrested for spreading rumours on Facebook. Also Read: ‘Rumours against Ahmadiyya’: BNP leader among 19 held Ismail Hossain Jhanu, 25, of the Rajangarh area of Panchagarh municipality and Rasel Hossain, 28, of the Tular Danga area of the municipality were arrested in connection with the murder of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat engineer Zahid Hasan. Besides, 77 people were shown arrested in the cases filed by the police and Rab on several charges and they were sent to jail through a court. According to police and case statements, sub-inspectors Masud Rana, Saidur Rahman, Shamsuzzoha Sarker,  Altaf Hossain, and DAD Abdus Samad on behalf of Rab-13 filed the cases at Panchagarh Sadar Police Station on March 4 night. Osman Ali, father of engineer Zahid Hasan, filed a case on behalf of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat in connection with the murder. No one was named in the case, but 400 unnamed people were made accused. Also Read: ‘Hate campaign’ being run against Ahmadiyyas on Twitter, says member of community Police said two people who were allegedly directly involved in Zahid’s murder have been arrested. They gave confessional statements in connection with the murder. Panchagarh Superintendent of Police SM Sirajul Huda said the situation is under control now. Members of the police, Border Guard Bangladesh and RAB have been deployed at different points, he said. “We are investigating the incident and arresting those involved. No matter who the attackers are, they will not be spared. Raids are on to arrest the other accused,” said the SP. Read More: Clash over Ahmadiyya event: Law enforcers on high alert to avoid further trouble in Panchagarh  Earlier, on Friday, two people were killed and at least 50 others including policemen were injured in the clash between a section of Muslim devotees and police during a protest march of the devotees demanding the closure of an Ahmadiyya community’s event in Panchagarh district town. Later on Saturday, a vested interest group spread rumours in different parts of the district town and on social media saying that some Ahmidyya community members slaughtered two Muslims. Following the rumours, some young people equipped with sticks and sharp weapons blocked roads, carried out arson attacks, and looted shops and houses of the Ahmadiyya community. Read More: 20 hurt in clash between two BCL factions while paying homage at CU

Three people were killed and at least 77 hurt in separate road crashes in the Debiganj and Boda upazilas of Panchagarh, police said. The deceased were identified as Tamij Uddin, 60, Hasibul Islam, 32, and Swapan Ali, 25, of Tentulia. Fifteen of the 77 injured are still not out of the woods and were sent to the Rangpur Medical College and Hospital. Also Read: Clash over Ahmadiyya event: Law enforcers on high alert to avoid further trouble in Panchagarh "The accident in Debiganj occurred at Lakshmirhat as a truck crashed into a bus in the afternoon. The bus, full of passengers, was returning from a three-day ijtema (congregation) in the upazila town after Akheri Munajat (final prayers). It overturned in the impact of the crash," Jamal Hossain, officer-in-charge of Debiganj Police Station, said. "One devout Muslim died at the scene and 26 others were injured. The injured were rushed to the upazila health complex. Five of them were referred to Rangpur Medical College and Hospital. However, the truck driver immediately fled the scene." "The accident in Boda occurred at Chandanbari after the tyre of a bus burst. Two people were killed, and 51 were injured; all of them were returning from the congregation in Debiganj," Sujay Kumar Roy, officer-in-charge of Boda Police Station, said. "The injured were taken to Boda Upazila Health Complex. Later, 10 of them were transferred to the Rangpur Medical College and Hospital."        

Members of the law enforcement agencies including Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have been patrolling the Sadar upazila of the district on Saturday  to ward off further trouble,  a day after the violence over an Ahmadiyya religious event that left 2 people and dozens injured. Though the law enforcers are on high alert, a tense situation has been prevailing in the area. Md AbdulLatif Miah, officer-in-charge of Sadar police station, said the law enforcers have been deployed at several points to avoid further disturbance. The bodies of the deceased were handed over to their families without autopsies following the request by their relatives around 1pm, he said. Also Read: Panchagarh clash leaves 2 killed and at least 50 hurt The Ahmidyya community will hold a press conference over the issue at Salana Jalsa village at 3pm, the OC said, adding that security were beefed up.   He also said that neither any case has so far been lodged in this connection nor anyone has been arrested. The Ahmadiyya devotees, who gathered at the Salana village to attend their scheduled event,were seen going back to their respective destinations on Saturday morning after the event was suspended for an indefinite period on Friday night.   Two men were killed and at least 50 people sustained injuries in the clash of a section of Muslim devotees and police demanding the closure of a Qadiani Salana Jalsa in Panchagarh town on Friday After the Jummah prayers, devotees gathered from some mosques in Panchagarh municipality area and started a protest march. Then they went to Panchagarh town staging an agitation there. At one point they marched towards the Qadianis Jalsa in the Ahmed Nagar area. As police stopped the procession at Panchagarh Chowrangi intersection, the protesters became angry and started throwing brickbats at the police in the city's cinema hall road area. Police had to move back at one point due to the protest procession. At least 30 people were injured. Shops in Panchagarh town closed as the violence spread panic among the people. The angry mob also looted around 20 houses of the Qadianis located in Ahmednagar.  

Tulips — the brightly coloured flowers usually associated with the Netherlands — are now growing in Tetulia upazila of Panchagarh district, boosting tourism prospects and local economy. Seeing the success of a pilot scheme, this year, tulips are being grown on a large tract of land in Darjipara of Tetulia. Tulips grown in the Panchagarh district are now being sold in Dhaka due to high demands. Last year, eight women earned Tk 65,000 each by growing tulips on their land — on a pilot basis — and this year, 20 women are growing the beautiful flowers on two acres of land considering the prospects. Also read: Danish ambassador, IFAD country director visit tulip gardens in Panchagarh This year, they are expecting to sell tulips worth Tk one crore. Financed by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), Echo Social Development Organisation (ESDO) and Rural Microenterprise Transformation Project (MRTP) undertook the pilot project with the help of rural women. They have created a new prospect for livelihood.

Ambassador of Denmark to Bangladesh, Winnie Estrup Petersen, has visited tulip gardens in Panchagarh district and hoped that the vibrant flowers will create livelihood opportunities for the rural community. “I am very pleased to be here, in this colourful tulip garden, and proud that the Danish government, together with IFAD and the government of Bangladesh, has invested in building capacities of these young women farmers,” she said. A delegation – financing a rural development project boosting microenterprises – visited the tulip fields in Panchagarh district on Monday. The delegation included Ambassador Petersen and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Country Director in Bangladesh Arnoud Hameleers. They spoke with local farmers who are growing tulips with assistance from the Rural Microenterprise Transformation Project, co-funded by IFAD and the Danish International Development Agency. Read more: Tulip farming opens new opportunity for farmers in Tetulia, Jashore Typically grown in cooler climates, there is high demand for tulips in Dhaka. In 2021, eight farmers were trained to cultivate and market tulips as part of a value chain development initiative implemented by the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation and its partner organization, the Eco-Social Development Organisation, IFAD said on Tuesday.