'BNP men' attack Proshika office in Pallabi
Staff Correspondent
Alleged adherents of ruling BNP yesterday beat up staff of the Pallabi area development centre (ADC) of non-governmental organisation Proshika, looted cash and valuables said to be worth over Tk 2.5 lakh and locked the office.The raiders also threatened 'tough action' against the staff if they went to the office again. "Locals identified them as activists of the BNP and (Jatiyatabadi) Jubo Dal (the party's youth front)," a top official of the NGO's Pallabi ADC told The Daily Star, preferring not to be named for security reason. Some 12/13 youths aged 20-25 years armed with wooden and hockey sticks stormed the office on the ground floor of house No. 1 on road No. 2 in Section-A in Pallabi at 12:30pm. They swore at the staff and began to hit the file cabinets and almirahs. "Why have you come to the office, don't you know Proshika's activities have been banned and it has been closed down?" the official quoted one of the intruders as shouting at them. The intruders kicked and beat up four male staff and called the female staff names. "They opened all file cabinets and almirahs, messed up the papers and documents and tore some papers," the official said. They raiders took away over Tk 2 lakh set aside to run microcredit programmes, which was kept in the Accounts Room. "Our field officers returned to office collecting the money a few minutes before the Jubo Dal men barged into the office," he said. The youths later took away the office computer and drove out 16 Proshika officials of their office before locking it. "They asked our clients not to give Proshika any money and threatened us not to go to office anymore," the official said. The Proshika men later contacted Pallabi police who visited the spot but recorded no case. During a visit yesterday afternoon, some staffers were found sitting 50 yards from their office. "[The Jubo Dal men] are hanging around the area to see whether we open the office," said another official, also wishing anonymity. "Since I depend wholly on this job to run my family, I'll have to starve if they don't let us work," a dejected field officer said, adding most of his colleagues are going to face a similar prospect. "We really don't know what to do, we're waiting for a decision from the higher authorities," one of them said when asked what they would do from today.
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