Brother demands Ramu MP publicly apologise for teacher assault

Cox's Bazar-3 MP Shaimum Sarwar Kamal’s brother has demanded a public apology from the public representative for assaulting his childhood teacher.

Eyewitnesses say Shaimum assaulted Ratnagarbha Rizia Ahmed High School teacher Sunil Kumar Sharma at Ramu Upazila’s Joarianala on Sunday afternoon.

The teacher says the Awami League MP vented his anger about his son Sujan Kumar Sharma, grabbed him by the neck and pushed him before everyone. Shaimum also threatened to make Sujan disappear, Sunil said.

The disturbing misconduct has trigged a wave of protests and condemnation on the social media. Local Awami League leaders at ward-level party meeting on Monday also protested the incident.

Shaimum is the younger son of former ambassador and Awami League MP Osman Sarwar Alam Chowdhury.

Shaimum’s elder brother Sohel Sarwar Kajal is president of Ramu Upazila chapter of the ruling party and a former chairman of the Upazila.

"I think my brother should apologise publicly for the incident," said Sohel. Shaimum is a member of Cox's Bazar AL.

Sohel said Sunil retired as headmaster of the Kahatiparha Primary School in 2014 and later took a teaching job in 'Rizia Ahmed' school.

"Sunil sir used to come to our house to give us tuitions. He used to treat us as his children.

"The manner in which a lawmaker humiliated his teacher is barbaric," Sohel said. "He is not only a teacher, he is also a representative of the local Hindu community."

"I think that Shaimum should apologise publicly because the incident has tarnished the image of the party and the government," he added.

MP Shaimum, however, said Sunil was ‘never his teacher’ and the allegation of assault is ‘not true’.

Speaking to bdnews24.com on Tuesday, he said, "He was never my teacher - not at any school or at home. Whatever has been written in the media is untrue; I didn't assault him."

The MP, however, admitted that he had an argument with Sunil.

"I just told him that he had given my father a hard time between 1971 and 1975, and now his son is doing the same to me.

“He helped the 'Peace Committee' members in many ways in 1971 and was assaulted by the local people for his association with BNP and Jatiya Party during those regimes."

"Nearly 50 to 60 people were present at the time. No one can say I assaulted him," added the MP .

But many witnesses' accounts contradicted the MP's version of the event.

Local resident Monirul Alam who was present at the scene told bdnews24.com: "We cannot expect such behaviour from a lawmaker in a civilised society. The person he assaulted was his teacher."

For his part, Sunil said he was not contemplating taking any legal measure against the MP.

"We are ordinary people. He was my student, he is like my child. He assaulted me but I don't want to get involved in any further trouble by starting a case," Sunil added.

What happened in Ramu?

Teacher Sunil told bdnews24.com when he reached Joarianala Bazar area on Sunday afternoon on his way back home from the school, Shaimum was in the middle of the prayers offered after inaugurating a playground.

“After the prayers, he came to me and said in a disparaging tone that my son Sujan was crossing the line. He asked me to tell my son to stop opposing him or else, he will make Sujan disappear,” Sunil said.

Sunil then reminded Shaimum that he had been the MP’s teacher once, only to make Shaimum go mad at him.

“He then swooped down on me and grabbed me by the neck. He pulled me by the collar of my shirt and pushed me away. He also threatened me with dire consequences if I did not alert my son,” the teacher said.

Sunil’s son Sujan is involved in real estate business in Dhaka. He is also general secretary of the Ramu Society in Dhaka. Shaimum is an adviser to the society.

Sujan said Shaimum became furious after seeing retired Lt Col Md Forkan Ahmed, chairman of Cox’s Bazar Development Authority, on the list of guests at a discussion of the Ramu Society in Dhaka last Friday.

“He threatened to stop all our programmes if we did excess, and then he left the programme,” Sujan said.

“The truth of the matter is the MP wants the Society to do his bidding. But the people from Ramu have built the organisation with great efforts. The control of the Society can’t be vested on a single person,” he added.

The discussion was organised ahead of a festival on Jan 19, but the Society has postponed the festival.

Allegations galore against MP

Shaimum, 48, is known to be close to Awami League Publicity and Publication Secretary Hasan Mahmud.

Elected to parliament for the first time in 2014, he was international affairs secretary in the last committee of the ruling party’s volunteer front Swechchhasebak League.

According to his Facebook account, he received a degree from a Belgian university after studying at the Chittagong University.

His father Osman Sarwar Alam Chowdhury was elected MP in the then West Pakistan Provincial Assembly in 1970.  After independence, he represented the Ukhia-Teknaf-Ramu constituency in parliament after winning the election in 1973.

During the Awami League’s 1996-2001 tenure, Osman Sarwar was an ambassador.

Shaimum, a former director of the state-run Sonali Bank, made headlines during investigation into the Hall-Mark loan scam in 2013.

The Anti-Corruption Commission had quizzed Shaimum at the time.

Media reports have it that in a statement before a court, Hall-Mark Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud had confessed to bribing Shaimum Tk 30 million for ‘managing’ the Sonali Bank board of directors.

Shaimum, however, had denied the allegation, saying Tanvir had been trying to implicate him in the scam out of personal vengeance.

The ACC also investigated Shaimum and his wife Syeda Selina Akter for allegedly acquiring illegal assets. He had also been quizzed at that time.

After he became MP, the anti-graft agency said they found no truth in the allegation against him.

In 2016, Shaimum was accused of assaulting forest workers for evicting illegal shops in front of the Himchharhi tourist spot.

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