Rafiqul Islam Rafiq, Kurigram Correspondent
Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Mahmudul Hasan has sentenced four people to prison through a mobile court for illegally extracting and selling sand in Nageshwari, Kurigram. Angry over this, former councilor of Ward No. 1 of Nageshwari Municipality, Ashraful Islam alias Israel, called him an 'accomplice of fascism'.
According to the relevant administration sources, Councilor Ashraful lobbied to release the illegal sand traders who were sentenced to prison. He became angry after not receiving a response. Later, in a post on his Facebook ID, he wrote, "Within seven working days, the corrupt, bad-tempered, fascist accomplice of Nageshwari Upazila AC Land must be withdrawn and brought to justice." Meanwhile, taking a screenshot of that post, AC Land Mahmudul Hasan wrote on his Facebook ID, "If running a mobile court to prevent illegal sand mining is a crime, then withdraw me tomorrow. If standing by to protect the land of the poor is a crime, then consider me guilty too. If I become bad-tempered when I speak against the syndicate, then judge me."
Two such separate posts spread on social media. In it, a person from the area wrote that this former councilor made such a post on social media to tarnish the image of a responsible government official.
It is learned that a group has been illegally mining sand in Bagmara Beel of Ward No. 1 of Nageshwari Municipal Area for a long time. Based on such allegations, AC Land Mahmudul Hasan conducted a raid on April 20 at around 3 pm. At that time, sand traders Ashraful Alam (34), Alamgir Hossain (37) were given 3 days' imprisonment and Abdul Latif (38) and Moniruzzaman (40) were given 5 days' imprisonment. Admitting to posting on Facebook, former councilor Ashraful Islam said, AC Land humiliated me when I went to the spot during the mobile court. I complained the matter verbally to the DC and UNO. After learning about the matter, the UNO expressed his regret to me. Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Mahmudul Hasan said, no incident of humiliation occurred at that time. The complaint that he had been humiliated is fabricated and baseless. During the operation of the mobile court, the former councilor asked to release the illegal sand traders from the other side of the beel. At the same time, he requested not to break the dredger and said, "Release the detainees. The dredger will be removed after a while. Do not cause any damage." But the angry people present broke the dredger and the pipe. This angered him. Later, fearing that the situation would be brought under control, he left with his people.
