PM adviser Iqbal Sobhan behind press briefing on Khaleda convoy attack: Feni AL

The Feni district unit of the Awami League has claimed Prime Minister’s Media Affairs Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury instigated Azharul Haque Arju to call a media briefing connecting the party with the attack on BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s motorcade.

Feni Awami League President Abdur Rahman Feni Awami League President Abdur Rahman

Feni Awami League President Abdur Rahman Feni Awami League President Abdur Rahman

Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury

Nizam Uddin Hazari Nizam Uddin Hazari

Feni Awami League President Abdur Rahman came up with the claim at a news conference in the town on Wednesday.

Rahman says the press conference by Azharul was ‘part of a conspiracy against Awami League MP Nizam Uddin Hazari’.

On Tuesday, Azharul at the presser in Dhaka brought up scores of allegations against Hazari, including one that the MP had ordered the attack on Khaleda's convoy.

Iqbal Sobhan, however, has refuted the allegation that he was behind Azharul’s press conference. He said he has ‘no involvement in disputes between local leaders’ of Khaleda’s electoral district Feni.

Khaleda’s motorcade came under the attack in Feni when she was on her way to visit Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar on Oct 28.

Azharul Haque Arju

The attackers also vandalised vehicles of several media outlets, including Iqbal Sobhan’s TV station DBC, and beat up some journalists during the attack.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader claimed the BNP had ‘staged the attack to get media coverage’. 

But Azharul said Hazari ordered the attack and the media vehicles were vandalised because the MP wanted to avenge reports against him.

On Wednesday, Rahman said Azharul’s claim that he was an executive member of the Awami League in Feni was ‘not true’.

Nizam Uddin Hazari

The Feni Awami League president said the party expelled Azharul after he had contested as a rebel candidate in the last election to a local union council.

He condemned Azharul’s ‘false statement’ about the Awami League.

“The Awami League was not involved in the attack on Khaleda Zia’s motorcade. A quarter is using the issue in a conspiracy against MP Nizam Hazari,” Rahman said.

“The quarter is conspiring against Feni Awami League on instigation by former leader Joynal Hazari, and journalists’ leader and Prime Minister’s Media Affairs Adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury,” he added.

Joynal Abedin Hazari had been elected to parliament several times from the Feni-2 or Sadar-Dagaonbhuiyan seat, won by Nizam Hazari in the 2014 polls.

Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury

In the 2008 election, journalist union leader Iqbal Sobhan got the Awami League ticket to run for the seat but lost to the BNP’s Joynal Abedin, who is known as VP Joynal.

Nizam Hazari started a case on Jan 29 against Iqbal Sobhan, accusing him of libel over a report published in the Daily Observer, which Iqbal Sobhan edits.

Iqbal Sobhan told bdnews24.com: “This statement about me is utterly false. The accusation is incorrect, and those who brought it know the truth as well.”

“This is a wicked attempt to conceal their own misdeeds by passing the blame on to others,” he said.

He also said he has no involvement in conflicts in the party’s Feni unit.