One killed, dozens injured in Tabligh’s factional clash

Staff Correspondent, Gazipur: One person was killed and more than one hundred people were injured in a series of clashes between two factions of Tabligh Jamaat for establishing control over Ijtema Maidan on the bank of the Turag River in Tongi on Saturday.

The deceased was identified as Ismail Mondal of Meliapara village in Munshiganj district.

Ismail was a follower of Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, top scholar of Indian Tabligh Jamaat.

The clash broke out in the morning when the supporters of Saad Kandhalvi tried to enter the Ijtema premises where the supporters of another India Tabligh Jamaat leader Maulana Jubair Hassan took position since Wednesday, according to police.

At one stage, the supporters of Maulana Saad broke open the main gate of the Ijtema ground and entered the maidan, police said.

Sporadic clashes took place between the two groups, leaving Ismail dead on the spot, sources said.

Earlier, the vehicular movement on the western side of the busy Airport Road remained halted from Airport crossing to Abdullahpur since morning as Saad Kandhalvi's supporters attacked the followers of other faction at the Airport intersection.

Then, a chase and counter-chase took place between the two groups creating panic among the city dwellers as well as creating a heavy gridlock from Mohakhali intersection to Uttara.

This conflict between the two factions was said to be the continuation of the trouble began in the last session of Biswa Ijtema, the annual event of Tabligh Jamaat and the largest Muslim congregation after the hajj.

The groups locked into another clash over the conflict at Dhaka's Kakrail Mosque, the headquarters of the religious group's Bangladesh chapter, in April last year.

risingbd/Gazipur/December 01, 2018/Hasmot/AKA