Clashes Erupt at Model Mosque Over Secret Political Meeting

A highly volatile situation unfolded in Chuadanga’s Damurhuda sub-district on Saturday, 11 July, after local residents discovered a large, unauthorised political assembly taking place inside the town’s Model Mosque. The event, an all-day training workshop organised by female wing activists of Jamaat-e-Islami, sparked immediate public fury, leading to physical confrontations before police and administrative authorities arrived to defuse the tension.

The incident began to take shape shortly after 10:00 am, when dozens of easy-bikes and microbuses began dropping off hundreds of female political workers at the multi-storey religious facility. The sprawling nature of the meeting came to light at midday when regular worshippers entered the premises to offer their Zuhr prayers. Finding the mosque’s upper levels occupied by a partisan political training camp, local citizens and activists from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) immediately notified law enforcement and local government officers.

Events escalated rapidly outside. Outraged shopkeepers and local traders from the surrounding marketplace marched to the religious complex, slammed the primary iron gates shut, and locked the political workers inside. A tense standoff ensued, deteriorating into a physical scuffle at the entrance between opposing groups before police units arrived to clear the perimeter and safely evacuate the trapped women.

A breakdown in basic protocol lies at the center of the security breach. Sheikh Mohammad Mezbah Uddin, the Officer-in-Charge of Damurhuda Model Police Station, clarified that his office was kept completely in the dark regarding the event, which skipped all essential security clearances.

The investigation quickly shifted focus to an internal transaction. The mosque caretaker, Mohammad Shahgahan, admitted to renting out the public religious sanctuary for the day to local Jamaat-e-Islami organisers in exchange for a direct cash payment of 3,000 taka. He confessed that he failed to seek administrative clearance from his superiors before making the deal. Despite the community backlash, the general secretary of the Damurhuda sub-district branch of Jamaat-e-Islami, Mohammad Abed Ud Doula Riton, defended the gathering, calling it a routine internal training programme.

The explanation has done little to pacify political rivals. The general secretary of the local BNP branch, Mohammad Rafikul Hasan Tonu, noted that between 300 and 400 political activists were utilising the state-funded complex for party coordination, arguing that a public religious institution should never be converted into a political headquarters.

Administrative consequences are already underway. The Sub-district Executive Officer (UNO), Lovely Yasmin, who serves as the official president of the model mosque’s governing council, expressed severe frustration over the operational failure. She questioned how an event of this scale could be authorised without her signature or awareness. Yasmin has issued an official ultimatum to the caretaker, demanding a formal written explanation for his actions. While additional security patrols have been deployed to ensure stability, local officials confirm that the situation has returned to normal.