Joint forces have conducted a raid on the residence of Anwar Ali, former Kushtia municipality mayor and a leader of Awami League, whose activities are currently banned.
The operation, which began around 10:30pm Friday, involved personnel from Kushtia Model Police Station, Detective Branch (DB), and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). The raid lasted over two hours.
However, law enforcement agencies returned empty-handed as no arrests were made. During the raid, supporters of Anwar gathered in front of the house to protest the move.
Anwar is a former acting general secretary of the Kushtia District Awami League, and a multiple-term elected mayor of the Kushtia municipality.
Several local sources speaking on condition of anonymity, said that there was a conflict between Anwar and the party’s Joint General Secretary, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, during the party’s tenure in power.
Anwar’s son, Parvez Anwar Tonu, who holds no official party position, contested the 12th National Parliamentary Election as an independent candidate for the Kushtia-3 (Sadar) constituency against Hanif, though he was unsuccessful.
Following the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August 2024, Tonu was arrested in Dhaka in connection with a sabotage case and is currently out on bail.
On Friday afternoon, a motorcycle protest procession led by Mir Saiful Islam, president of the District Jubo League was brought out. Earlier, activists of banned Chhatra League (BCL) brought out another procession in the area.
Following the raid, allegations surfaced that District Chhatra League president Mir Abhi threatened Kushtia District BNP Convener Kutub Uddin Ahmed on Facebook in a post on his personal account.
Abhi reportedly called for supporters to gather at Anwar’s residence and threatened the BNP leader. The post was later edited to remove the name of the BNP leader. However, the district BNP leaders have not yet commented on the matter.
Kushtia Model Police Station Officer-in-charge (OC) Kabir Hossain Matubbar confirmed the operation, saying, “A search operation was conducted based on information that members of a banned organisation were staying in that house. However, no one was found inside.”
