In the Cox’s Bazar-4 (Ukhiya–Teknaf) constituency, BNP’s nominated candidate and district BNP President Shahjahan Chowdhury has received threats to withdraw from the election.
Shahjahan Chowdhury said the letter reached him by post on Sunday.
The letter, dated 23 December, was sent under the identity of Muminul Alam, claiming to be a regional coordinator of “Battalion-71.” A piece of burial shroud was also enclosed with the letter.
The letter threatened Shahjahan Chowdhury, warning him not to take part in the upcoming national parliamentary election. It said if he contested the election, his fate would be “like Sharif Osman Hadi’s.” The letter also mentioned that he had been kept under the surveillance of a “killing squad” for 24 hours.
Commenting that some terrorist groups are active in the area and could be behind such acts, Shahjahan Chowdhury said the letter had been sent through the post office. However, he said he was not frightened by the threats.
He said, “They are trying to weaken me by issuing threats. But I cannot be bought this way. A person dies only once. I am not very worried about that.”
Meanwhile, Ukhiya police station officer-in-charge (OC) Nur Ahmed said an application had been submitted on behalf of the BNP candidate to file a general diary (GD) with the police over the threat. The application has been received, and legal action will be taken after examining the matter seriously.
Since this incident, political tension has been prevailing in the area. Various political and social groups have strongly condemned the incident.
