NCP calls nationwide protests over arson attack on MP Nusrat's Kushtia home

The National Citizen Party (NCP) has announced nationwide protests and demonstration marches following an arson attack on the ancestral home of its Political Council member and MP Nusrat Tabassum in Kushtia.

In an emergency press release issued on Thursday and signed by Member Secretary Akhtar Hossain, the party instructed all its district, metropolitan, thana and upazila units to organise rallies and processions in their respective areas without delay.

Party leaders and activists were urged to participate spontaneously to ensure the success of the programme.

According to Nusrat, who also served as a coordinator of the July mass uprising, assailants allegedly hurled a petrol bomb at her family home in Bagoan village of Daulatpur upazila at around 11:45pm on Wednesday. The fire gutted five rooms of the tin-shed house and injured her parents and several other family members.

After travelling from Dhaka and reviewing closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, Nusrat said an individual had made four separate attempts to set the house on fire from the rear.

In a Facebook post, Nusrat said she did not know who was behind the attack. However, the NCP blamed the activities-banned Awami League for the incident. The party's Media Secretary Yasir Arafat said it suspected individuals affiliated with the party were involved.

No arrests have been reported, and police have yet to establish the cause of the fire. Daulatpur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Khaledur Rahman confirmed that the fire broke out in a shed used for keeping cattle. He said Nusrat's family and local residents suspected that the blaze had been deliberately started using petrol or a similar accelerant over previous enmity.

The attack has drawn condemnation from political figures as the country witnesses a wider spate of crude bomb explosions and arson attacks.

Dr Tasnim Jara demanded the immediate arrest of those responsible in a Facebook post on Thursday, expressing solidarity with Nusrat and saying, "You are not alone."

Dr Shafiqur Rahman, Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami and Leader of the Opposition, also condemned the attack as cowardly and called on the authorities to identify and punish those responsible.

Jamaat-e-Islami has also accused the BNP-led government of failing to contain the recent wave of violence.

The government had not issued any official statement on the incident or the NCP's protest programme at the time of reporting.