With the arrest of Shawkat Afsar, the
police seem to have tried to create another ‘Joj Mia’ drama, lamented his
maternal uncle and Cox’s Bazaar Zila Awami League Science and Technology
Affairs Secretary Engineer Badiul Alam.
Arrested for delivering a letter in which
he allegedly threatened to bomb and blow up the Egyptian embassy, Shibir has
confirmed that Shawkat Afsar (18) was
neither involved with Shibir, nor a student of Focus coaching center.
Last Wednesday, an investigation revealed
that Shawkat Afsar’s maternal uncle was the influential Cox’s Bazaar Zila Awami
League Science and Technology Affairs Secretary Engineer Badiul Alam. Nasir
Uddin, elder brother of the arrestee, said that Shawkat was not involved in any
politics. He informed that Shawkat, after passing his higher secondary
examinations (HSC), had left for Dhaka Monday night (19th August)
from Cox’s Bazar in order to get admitted into a coaching center.
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| Shawkat Afsar |
His family further informed that he had
begun staying at a mess with some of his friends after leaving for Dhaka on
Monday night. So, given his inexperience and lack of knowledge regarding roads
and areas in Dhaka, his family was bewildered when they enquired as to how he
delivered the alleged letter to the Egyptian embassy within Tuesday. His family said
that they had come to know that Shawkat had been suddenly arrested by the
Detective Branch of police while he was perusing the coaching center area at
Farmgate in Dhaka.
Nasir Uddin, Shawkat’s elder brother said that
their father late Sultan Ahmed was member of the Eidgah Union at Cox’s Bazaar
multiple times and later was even a panel Chairman. Shawkat is the youngest
among 6 brothers. His brothers in descending chronological order are Nurul
Kabir, Jashim uddin (Saudi expatriate), Shahab Uddin, Ashek Uddin (Saudi
expatriate) and Nasir Uddin (an insurance company employee).
Shawkat completed his SSC in 2011 from
Eidgah Adorsho Shikkhaniketon securing A+, while he completed his HSC from
Cox’s Bazar City College in 2013, securing A grade. His uncle Engineer Badiul
Alam said that he had once come to Dhaka earlier before Eid for information
regarding medical coaching centres. The AL leader said that his family would contact
with the DB authorities regarding Shawkat’s release. They would seek to clarify
that Shawkat was simply a meritorious student who was not involved in any
politics. Furthermore, both his parents were deceased and there was no one to
look after him.
Badiul Alam claimed that the police were
trying to create another ‘Joj Mia’ drama with his meritorious nephew. Moreover,
he claimed that the letter which had been sent to the Egyptian embassy was
signed with the name of “Shawkat Umman”, whilst his nephew was “Shawkat Afsar” .
On the other hand, police have claimed that
the arrested Shawkat was an active member of Shibir and that they had arrested him
from the premises of Focus coaching center in Dhaka. However, on visiting the
Focus coaching at Farmgate and querying the office secretary Nur-e-Alam Kaisar,
it was understood that there had been no police raid at their premises and hence
there was no question of Shawkat being arrested there. Nur-e-Alam further said
that no one named Shawkat Afsar had enrolled at the centre in the past year.
Bangladesh Islami Chatra Shibir has confirmed that no member or supporter of the organisation named Shawkat Afsar
had been arrested. They have further confirmed that the arrested Shawkat Afsar is not their member or
activist.
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| Shawkat Afsar with Anisul Haque |
On Wednesday
afternoon, after the arrest of Shawkat Afsar, Joint Commissioner of detective
branch of police Monirul Islam in a briefing at the media center claimed that
Shawkat had ‘confessed’ to the DB police that he had delivered the letter in which he threatened to blow up the Egyptian embassy.
Furthermore he was alleged to have written down his name and mobile number in
that letter. Police claimed that they had arrested him on the basis of the
given mobile number. However, on being asked to show the letter by journalist,
police failed to comply. Monirul further claimed that the
handwriting in the letter was similar to the writing of “Shibir activist”
Shawkat and that police would carry out ‘further questioning’ to uncover the
plot.
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| Shawkat Afsar with Muntasir Mamoon and company |
Investigation of Shawkat’s
facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/shaokat.osman.1) revealed that the claim
of police that he was a member of Shibir seemed far-fetched as there was not even a single
post regarding Shibir on his page. Police were not even able to ascertain as to
which branch of Shibir he belonged to. Furthermore,
Shawkat himself has said that he is not related to Shibir. He has, however, confirmed
that he submitted a memorandum to the Egyptian embassy “Saudi o Misor dutabase
Kora sarok lipi dilam” https://www.facebook.com/shaokat.osman.1/posts/433201300130157). However, police have
not been able to confirm whether this was the same letter they were referring
to.
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