Jt forces on patrol, but Hindus, AL men still in panic

Patgram upazila under the district remained a virtually free zone during the Liberation War but now after 42 years of independence, the people here are passing days amid panic of violence by Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir.
Even patrol by joint forces fails to instil a sense of security among the locals as the bordering upazila in last couple of weeks saw Jamaat-Shibir men's violence during their hartal and blockade programmes and attack on houses and shops of minority Hindus.
Incidents of clashes and action by law enforcers left five people dead. 
During the Liberation War, the headquarters of Sector No 6 was set up at Burimari Hasar Uddin High School in the upazila but Pakistan soldiers and their local collaborators did not dare to enter the area, locals said.
"There were no Jamaat activists in the area during the Liberation War and it was so till 1980. But in 1981, Ataur Rahman, a resident of Burimari village, also a student of Rajshahi University that time, managed to have some footing for Jamaat's student wing Shibir," said freedom fighter Zakir Hossain, commander of Patgram upazila unit of Muktijoddha Sangsad.
“Jamaat-Shibir men got organised in the upazila in 2001, when local industrialist Ershad Hossain Sazu got ticket from Jamaat-e-Islami for contesting in parliament election. They got stronger during the BNP-led alliance government in 2001-2005 as the then social welfare minister Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed provided support to the Jamaat-Shibir men through his sister-in-law's husband Anwarul Islam Raju, a local resident (now living in France).
“Amid alarming rise of Jamaat-Shibir men in the area, we the freedom fighters are now under threat,” he said.
Many local Hindus in the upazila said they are still under threat of Jamaat- Shibir men as two Hindu villages Shafinagar and Ghoshpara came under their attack in last two months. 
Many local AL activists and supporters are staying away from their homes in fear of Jamaat-Shibir men, said Anwarul Islam Nazu, president of Patgram upazila unit of AL.
During political agitation like hartals and blockades, Jamaat-Shibir men get  support from a section of locals who are paid to conduct violence, said several residents of Bawra, Kafir Bazar, Burimari and Jongra villages of the upazila.
Many grassroots level AL activists and supporters in the upazila alleged that some identified AL leaders and activists including relatives of a high level party leader are responsible for the situation.
Motahar Hossain, district AL president and former state minister for primary and mass education, also the AL candidate for parliament election from Lalmonirhat-1 constituency (Hatibandha and Patgram upazilas), however, claimed that now the overall situation in Patgram upazila is under control. 
Some Jamaat-Shibir men in Bawra, Jongra, Burimari and Sreerampur unions in the upazila had conducted sabotage with the help of trained Shibir men from Joldhaka upazila in Nilphamari district, he said.