Tangail AL leader shot dead
Party men to observe half-day hartal in the town today
Faruque Ahmed
Criminals shot dead Awami League (AL) leader and freedom fighter Faruque Ahmed in the district town on Friday night. Faruque Ahmed, 60, a member of the district AL unit committee, was also a former joint secretary of the same unit. Seeing Faruque's body lying near his house at Collegepara of Tangail town around 11:30pm, Shamim Ahmed, a councillor of Ward No 6 of Tangail municipality, with the help of locals rushed him to Tangail General Hospital where the on-duty doctors declared him dead, police said. Faruque died following bullet injuries and the killer shot him from very close, Rafiqul Islam, resident medical officer (RMO) of the hospital, said referring to the autopsy report yesterday. Sumon Ahmed, elder son of the deceased, said, "My father was killed when he was returning home from the district Awami League office by a rickshaw. He was the general secretary candidate of Tangail district unit of the party in the next council and this might be the reason behind the killing.†Faruque's wife Nahar Ahmed also hinted that intra-party rivals may have killed her husband. They demanded punishment of the killers. The AL leader was involved in different social and cultural organisations in the district. He was editor of Tangail-based Bangla weekly Mulsroat, chairman of Tangail Sadar upazila unit of Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB), acting chairman of Red Crescent Society, president of Community Police Forum, and general secretary of Coronation Dramatic Club in Tangail. The leaders and activists of AL and its associate organisations in Tangail brought out a procession in the town demanding immediate arrest of the killers and their exemplary punishment. They also called a hartal in Tangail municipality area from 6:00am to 12:00pm today (Sunday) to press for the demand, party sources said. Protesting the gruesome killing, leaders and workers of Government Sadaat College Unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) blocked busy Dhaka-Tangail highway at Karatia Charpara Bypass in Sadar upazila for one hour at noon while Bus-Minibus Owners Association and CNG-Auto-Rickshaw Workers Association in Tangail suspended plying of the vehicles in the district from 3:00pm to 5:00pm. Following namaz-e-janaja at Bindubasini Government Boys High School premises after the Asr prayers, Faruque Ahmed was buried at the central graveyard in Tangail municipality area. "It seems professional killers were used to kill Faruque. The country has lost a brave freedom fighter and the party lost a dedicated leader," said Food Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque, also lawmaker from Tangail-2, who attended the funeral. He urged local police administration to find out the killers of Faruque. Faruque left behind his wife, two sons, a daughter and a host of relatives and well wishers to mourn his death.
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