Residents of Alongkarpur village (Baliakandi, Rajbari) were stunned yesterday as a team of men dispatched by the local Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) headquarters, turned the place upside down. Their objective? To locate the whereabouts of one Md Sabbir Hossain, son of Moslem Uddin Biswas (a local resident of Alongkarpur) whom they allege has been actively participating and encouraging anti-government activities. Mr. Hossain, who currently lives in the UK according to local sources, has been accused by RAB of writing and publishing anti-government content across popular social media channels and other media platforms. Local sources also revealed that Mr. Hossain is a former leader of the Monsur Ali Degree College Chatrodol, and a quite vocal supporter of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
The raid, which was carried out sometime around 12 am-midnight, saw members of the RAB team locate and surround Mr. Hossain’s house in Alongkarpur. The raid allegedly lasted for a few hours. They also restricted access to and from the entire area of Alongkarpur during the incident. What was perhaps a routine run for them has certainly left the locals uneasy and on edge.
Meanwhile, our local correspondent did manage to confirm that Mr. Hossain’s father was nowhere to be seen during the raid, prompting speculation that he may have abandoned the house before the RAB team surrounded it. The rest of Mr. Hossain’s family although quite shaken, are fine. But they have refusing to speak to reporters for now. There are also unconfirmed reports that the RAB team which infiltrated their home, also indulged in vandalism, namely destroying or damaged some of the valuables inside the house.
We approached the Razbari RAB headquarters for comments on the incident but they flat out refused to speak to us. Some local residents however bemoaned RAB’s actions admitting it was “unsavory and surreal” being hunted down by those who are supposed to protect us and our right to speech.
Our correspondent is still trying to extract as much information regarding the incident, as the RAB imposed a curfew on Alongkarpur slowly lifts. Stay tuned for more updates.
