Hathazari Madrasa attacked by Jamaat-Shibir men led to Shafi’s death: family member claims

Hathazari Madrasa was attacked by Jamaat-Shibir men on September 16, which led to the death of former Hefajat chief Shah Ahmad Shafi, his brother-in-law Md Moin Uddin claimed today.

Jamaat-Shibir activists had carried out the attack for his (Shafi) stance against Jamaat-e-Islam, said Moin Uddin at a press conference at Chattogram Press Club (CPC).

Speaking at the press conference, Moin Uddin urged the prime minister to form a judicial probe committee in order to investigate the death of Ahmad Shafi.

At the press conference -- under the banner of Hefajat-e-Islam -- followers of Shafi demanded cancellation of the representatives' conference of Hefajat-e-Islam, scheduled to be held at Hathazari Madrasa on November 15.

This council has been arranged by a faction of Hefajat to hand over the apolitical Kawmi organisation to BNP-Jamaat, they alleged.

In the written statement, Moin Uddin claimed that Hathazari Madrasa was under siege on September 16 by some students of the madrasa with the help of Jamaat-Shibir cadres.

He said that Junaid Babunagari, on the day, led the violence at the madrasa and looted its fund with the help of some people including Mir Idris, Nasir Uddin Munir, Mufti Harun Izhar and Enamul Hasan.

The attackers forcefully entered the chamber of Shafi and went on rampage and looting, said Moin.

They also assaulted Shafi and threatened him, he claimed. They demanded that Shafi resign from the post of director general of Al Jameyatul Ahlia Darul Ulum Moinul Islam Madrasa, he added.

Shafi held the post at the madrasa, popularly known as Hathazari Madrasa, for more than three decades.

During this violence, he became very sick, said Moin, adding that the miscreants snapped Shafi's oxygen supply several times -- leading him to go into coma.

When Shafi was brought out of the madrasa and was being rushed to a hospital in Chattogram, the ambulance carrying him was also blocked which expedited his death, he claimed.  

Moin Uddin said Ahmad Shafi was attacked several times for his stance "in favour of the country's Liberation War". There was anger among the Jamaat-Shibir men against Shafi as he "wrote books against the anti-liberation force Jamaat-e-Islam," he said.