Awami League activists and supporters chanted slogans against Information and Broadcasting Adviser Mahfuj Alam and threw eggs at him when he was entering the Bangladesh Consulate office in New York on Sunday evening.
The protesters chased him when Mahfuj Alam was entering the consulate building to attend an event on the first anniversary of the July riots and capture of power.
They held Awami League flags in front of the consulate office and chanted slogans of โJoy Banglaโ and โJoy Bangabandhu.โ They also threw eggs at the adviser and broke the glass door of the consulate building while demanding the resignation of the unconstitutional government.
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They took a position outside the building, waiting for Mahfuj Alam to come out after the event. Knowing the location of the Awami League leaders and activists, the consulate office called the police and two people were detained.
Later, Mahfuj Alam left the place under the guard of the New York Police Department (NYPD) after midnight local time. He will remain in the United States on a state visit until August 27.
Earlier, a water bottle was thrown at Mahfuj Alam when he was speaking to some protesters of Jagannath University in Dhaka on May 14. As the bottle hit his head, the student was confronted by some people and was arrested by the Detective Branch of the police the following day.
After his release from custody, Ishtiaq Hossain held a press conference on May 16 and claimed that he had been held in DB custody for 26 hours and had received threats from an unknown number prior to his detention. Although they did not physically torture him, the detectives kept questioning him until late at night and did not allow him to sleep.
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A former Shibir activist and follower of Ahle Hadith, Mahfuj Alam drew attention after removing a portrait of the father of the nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, from Bangabhaban soon after taking oath as an adviser under the Constitution and by sharing a map of Bangladesh with parts of India as her territory, implying the jihadistsโ long-term plan of Gazwatul Hind.
Recently, Mahfujโs brother was accused of receiving a bribe in Australia in favour of the adviser. Mahfuj is also accused of illegally occupying a floor on Borak Tower in Banani.
Meticulously designed conspiracy
US puppet Muhammad Yunus had described the July movement against the Awami League government as โmeticulously designedโ last September, saying it was not spontaneous.
That day, he introduced Mahfuj Alam as the mastermind of this conspiracy.
Yunus also said his recruitersโthe studentsโhad pushed the reset button to rewrite the history, implying that the narratives of the Liberation War and the contribution of Bangabandhu would change.
After that, many people, starting from coordinators Hasib Al Islam and Arif Sohel, said that they killed the police and set fire to various places, including the Metrorail, Setu Bhaban and BTV Headquarters. Moreover, BNP and Hefazat leaders said that they killed the police in Sirajganj.
Later, the interim government declared impunity for the killings, looting, and arson attacks committed by the protesters.
Many Shibir leaders have publicly said how they planned the movement, prepared demands, provided logistics, used leaders and activists from all over the country, and gathered activists at 10 points in Dhaka for the final assault on Ganabhaban on August 5.
In July this year, Mahfuj Alam admitted that they had conspired to overthrow the government. He brought students to the streets and committed murder and anarchy in a militant style, hiding their identities.
In a post on his verified Facebook ID on the night of July 4, he said: โThere were two parts to the July mass uprising. June 5 to July 18. In this part, the context and leadership of the uprising were created. And from July 19 to August 5, the uprising was successful with the participation and sacrifice of students and the public at all levels.โ He also commented that this first part of the uprising was โdefinitely meticulously designed.โ
Mahfuj Also defended mob culture by saying that the revolutionary students and people of July are not a mob.
His comments came following a statement by the chief adviserโs press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, who said that the mobs should be identified as โpressure groups.โ
Who is Mahfuj?
Introduced globally as the brain behind the meticulously designed โcoupโ, dubbed as a student-led uprising, in July-August by Dr. Yunus, Mahfuj Alam was first made special assistant to the chief adviser. At that time, he used to deal with the governmentโs political issues.
However, he softened his tone afterwards and is now talking about democracy instead of an Islamic Republic. On March 6, a day before the Hizb ut-Tahrirโs March for Caliphate, Mahfuj chose not to make any comment when netizens asked him about the event by a banned militant group.
Many Shibir leaders have criticised Mahfuj for denying the facts that he was a Sathi of Shibir, he used to stay in a Shibir-run mess house, and he is married to the niece of a former Shibir president.
Mahfujโs father, Azizur Rahman Bachchu Molla, is a BNP leader in Lakshmipur, and his father-in-law, Prof Dr Musleh Uddin, is the chief of an Ahle Hadith faction in Chittagong.
Mahfuj was a student of Tamirul Millat, a Jamaat-operated madrasa, before being admitted to Dhaka University. According to his aides, Mahfuj was staying on campus after completing his studies only to form a political force against the Awami League.
Apart from his camouflaged involvement with Shibir, Mahfuj was also associated with the leftists linked to Chhatra Federation, Chhatra Union, Rastro Songskar Andolan and Jatiya Insaf Kayem Committee of poet Farhad Mazhar.
Farhad Mazhar is unpopular for his live-in relationship with Farida Akhter, an adviser to the interim government, and Archana Rani Mistry, a former worker of his organisation who had to abort their child twice. In 2017, he staged an abduction drama after Archana sought money for an abortion.
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