The government has withdrawn the District Commissioner (DC) and transferred the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Gopalganj following open armed processions, vandalism, and arson by leaders and activists of the banned Awami League and its affiliated organisations.
DC Md. Arif-uz-Zaman has been withdrawn from his post and attached to the Ministry of Public Administration. SP Md. Habibullah has been transferred to Feni.
In their places, G.M. Sarfaraz (DC of Habiganj) has been appointed the new District Commissioner of Gopalganj, while Pratyush Kumar Majumdar (current SP of Feni) has been posted as the new Superintendent of Police of Gopalganj.
These changes were announced on Sunday, 15 November, through separate gazette notifications issued by the Ministry of Public Administration and the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Home Ministry orders form part of a broader reshuffle of six senior police officers and were signed by Deputy Secretary Tawsif Ahmed; they stated that the transfers were made in the public interest and take immediate effect.
The administrative changes followed major unrest earlier the same day in Gopalganj town, a traditional stronghold of the Awami League and the ancestral home of its former leader Sheikh Hasina. From around 11 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., hundreds of activists of the Awami League, Chhatra League, Jubo League, and affiliated groups (some reports put the total, including women, in the thousands) staged processions and rallies on various roads. Many carried traditional weapons such as logi-baitha (bamboo poles and oars), sticks, machetes (ramda), Chinese axes, spears, and tridents; some wore helmets.
The processions were organised to build support for a nationwide dawn-to-dusk lockdown announced for 19 November. Participants chanted slogans in support of ousted Prime Minister and party chief Sheikh Hasina, including “Joy Bangla,” “Joy Bangabandhu,” and calls for her return.
Activists breached police barricades and moved through multiple areas of the town. During the marches they:
- Vandalised the July Memorial (near Launch Ghat / adjacent to the Sheikh Kamal Stadium area) and the nameplate of Hadi Chattar at Gopalganj Science and Technology University, restoring the previous name “Joy Bangla Chattar” (some accounts mention “Muktijuddho Chattar”).
- Removed the nameplate at the main gate of Gopalganj Government College and put up a banner reading “Government Bangabandhu College.”
- Unlocked the long-closed district Awami League office and celebrated.
- Vandalised a police armoured personnel carrier (APC), smashed its rear-view mirror, and spray-painted “Joy Bangla” (and in some reports “Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu”) in red on it. Activists were seen standing on top of the APC chanting slogans. A police box was also damaged, with its glass windows smashed.
- Smashed the glass frontage of a supershop (FNF).
- Tore down and set fire to BNP banners and festoons in front of the municipality office.
- Set tyres, bamboo, and wood on fire at multiple locations, including in front of the Old Launch Ghat, Government College, and Press Club, blocking roads.
Security was reinforced with deployments of police, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB; six platoons were mentioned in related reports), Special Response Battalion (SRB), and Armed Police Battalion (APBn) at key points. Shops closed and rickshaw/van movement was disrupted. The situation began to normalise after 2 p.m.
Reports noted that police personnel were present at several points but appeared to take little action. Attempts to contact SP Md. Habibullah by phone went unanswered. Earlier in the day, DC Md. Arif-uz-Zaman had told media the overall situation was normal and that six platoons of BGB had been deployed.
This latest unrest continues a pattern of tension in the district. On 10 November, clashes in Tungipara Upazila involving banned Chhatra League activists saw a police vehicle set on fire, with injuries, arrests, and BGB deployment. Cases under the Anti-Terrorism Act have previously been filed naming hundreds of Awami League-linked individuals over related violence.
Gopalganj has seen repeated incidents targeting symbols associated with post-July 2024 political changes, against the backdrop of the interim administration’s ban on Awami League political activities. The army killed five persons during a protest in July last year, following which joint forces raided the district for seven days amid a curfew.
The transfers are widely viewed as a response to the failure to prevent open defiance of the ban and the accompanying vandalism and disruption.