Published : 03 Nov 2026, 11:49 PM
Updated : 03 Nov 2026, 11:49 PM
A Facebook post by a BNP leader in Kushtia expressing disillusionment with his party has triggered a public exchange between Bangladesh’s press minister in Delhi and Kushtia district police, with conflicting accounts of alleged pressure to arrest the activist.
The controversy began on Monday afternoon when Mustafizur Rahman Mustak, a BNP leader in Khoksa, posted: “If people commit great sins in their previous lives, they become BNP members in this life.”
About an hour later, Bangladesh High Commission Press Minister in Delhi Saidur Rahman shared the post, claiming a powerful group was pressuring police to arrest Mustak at the behest of another BNP leader.
Kushtia district police rejected the allegation as “false” in a statement posted on their Facebook page that night.
Saidur responded with another post, saying he had no intention of doing anything that could tarnish the government’s reputation.
Why does Mustak, a former central leader of the Jatiotabadi Chhatra Dal, now consider being in the BNP a “sin”?
Saidur’s first post offered an explanation for Mustak’s despair.
“I was very surprised by Mustak Bhai’s post and called him. He told me a group had instructed the Khulna DIG to arrest him on behalf of a BNP leader. The Kushtia SP is under tremendous pressure over Mustak Bhai’s arrest.”
Mustak allegedly told Saidur he had applied for a fertiliser dealership but was denied one. He then led party activists in an encirclement of the Upazila administrator’s office. He was subsequently accused of sheltering extremists and had been moving from place to place, Saidur wrote.
“His only question was: why can’t we live normally even after our party has come to power?” Saidur wrote, describing Mustak as distressed.
Saidur argued that politicians who had withdrawn from Kushtia politics had become more reckless since the BNP came to power, damaging the government’s image.
He said Mustak and others had once been frontline fighters who suffered persecution under the Awami League.
In its statement, Kushtia police said neither the Khulna range DIG nor the district SP was aware of the alleged pressure, and protested the publication of “false information” about them.
Saidur later said his original post relayed Mustak’s account, rather than his own claims, and was intended to present information, not demean police. He said the DIG had no involvement.
After seeing the police statement, Saidur said he spoke to Mustak again. Mustak allegedly told him he had visited the SP’s office around 1pm on Monday, while the officer was present, and posted from there. Saidur said CCTV footage and phone tracking could verify the visit.
Mustak also allegedly said a BNP leader, a former MP, had met the SP at his residence on Friday and pressed for his arrest. Saidur withheld the leader’s name, citing strategic reasons.
Mustak told bdnews24.com he feared for his safety and identified the local former MP as the person pressuring police.
He said the SP had summoned him on Monday and told him: “Sort things out with that leader. Otherwise, there is pressure on me to arrest you.”
Mustak said he had committed no wrongdoing and would not bow to anyone to accept injustice. He said he had sought a fertiliser licence while remaining active in politics, after sacrificing everything for the party.
SP Aminul Islam, however, told bdnews24.com that no such conversation or exchange had taken place with Mustak.
