Army rescues NCP leader Patwary after 'confinement' at polling station

Army personnel have escorted NCP leader Nasir Uddin Patwary from a polling station in Dhaka’s Shahjahanpur area after he was unable to leave the premises amid tensions with rival activists.

Patwary, a candidate of the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-party alliance in Dhaka-8, had gone to inspect voting at Shahjahanpur Railway High School at about 12:30 pm on Thursday.

According to witnesses, supporters of BNP candidate Mirza Abbas gathered outside the school after Patwary entered. The gates were shut, and more than 100 activists later assembled, preventing him from leaving.

About 20 minutes later, members of the Army and other law-enforcing agencies arrived and escorted him out. As he was being taken away, several hundred people attempted to pursue him, witnesses said.

Mirza Abbas told reporters he was unaware of the incident. “I do not know anything about this,” he said.

Patwary did not speak to journalists as he left, with the situation described as tense, bdnews24.com reports.

Earlier, he had visited Mirza Abbas Mohila Degree College, located a few hundred yards from the school, where he spent around 30 minutes. There, he criticised Abbas’s supporters, referring to them as “thugs”.

A voter at the railway school said Patwary had not faced any obstruction earlier in the area. “He came here and no one said anything. He stayed at the college for a long time and no one said anything,” the voter said. “It is surprising he was not beaten after calling Abbas a thug and terrorist.”