Nurul Haque, alias Nural Pagol, built a Darbar Sharif in his house many years ago.
In the late eighties, he came into the spotlight by claiming to be Imam Mahdi. At that time, there was intense public anger against him and his establishment, located in Ward No. 5 of Goalanda Municipality in Rajbari.
Later, on March 23, 1993, he left the area with a bond (an undertaking) to avoid public anger. A few days later, he returned and started running his Darbar Sharif.
On August 23, he died due to old age while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in the capital. His first funeral was held that evening with the participation of the local people. Later, after the second funeral inside the Darbar Sharif with the participation of his devotees and fans, he was buried in a special way at a place about 12 feet above the ground at around 10pm. His grave was painted in the style of the Holy Kaaba.
The local Islamists expressed their anger over the matter. As a result of their agitations, the colour of the grave was changed.
To resolve the issue, Touhidi Janata and the relatives of Nural Pagol held several meetings with the District Administrator and the Superintendent of Police and other senior officials of the administration.
Later, the Touhidi Janata held two press conferences on this issue and warned of demolishing the grave if it was not taken down by Thursday.
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Since the fall of the Awami League government on August 5 last year, over 100 shrines have come under attack by the Islamists, who identify them as Touhidi Janata. It is a common platform of radical Islamist parties like Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Hefazat-e-Islam, Bangladesh Khelafat-e-Majlish and militant groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir and Jamaโatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
Even though the government publicly warned against mob attacks on shrines, some of its advisers and the chief adviserโs representative have defended mobs as pressure groups. On the other hand, no perpetrator of the attacks has ever been prosecuted.
In the case of Rajbari, the instigators are the convener of the Iman-Aqeedah Rokkha Committee, Maulana Jalal Uddin Pramanik, and the member secretary, BNP leader Ayub Ali Khan, district Jamaat chief Nurul Islam, Goalanda Municipality BNP President Abul Kashem Mondal and Organising Secretary Amjad Hossain.
Earlier, the Touhidi Janata demolished three graves at Gausul Azam Darbar Sharif in Sirajganj, dug out the bones and burned them last year. They also looted the valuables at the “un-Islamic” shrine.
Police inaction
In continuation of the protests, the Touhidi Janata held a protest rally at the Goalanda Ansar Club ground after Friday prayers. Then they thronged the shrine of Nural Pagol and hoisted the flag of Kalema as seen in processions by the Hizb ut-Tahrir and al-Qaeda.
The followers of Nural Pagol counterattacked the mob. More than 50 people from both sides were injured in the fierce clashes. One of them, Rasel Molla, 28, died while being taken to Faridpur Medical College Hospital from Goalanda Upazila Health Complex.
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At one stage, the mob entered the premises and set everything on fire. A dozen people, mostly youth, were seen taking the coffin out of the grave and carrying it to the Dhaka-Khulna highway at the Goalanda Padma intersection while chanting Naraye Taqbir and hitting the corpse with sticks. Later, they threw the coffin and the body in the middle of the highway and burned it using fuel.
The police were almost inactive during the mayhem, yet they came under attack. The police claimed that six of their members were injured and two of their vehicles were damaged in the attack.
District Superintendent of Police Md. Kamrul Islam, Additional Superintendent of Police, Sharif Al Rajib, Goalanda Ghat police station OC Mohammad Rakibul and senior officials went to the spot. But they refused to comment on the matter.
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