A fire broke out at the old family home of Nusrat Tabassum, joint convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP) and a lawmaker of reserved-seat, in Daulatpur upazila of Kushtia. Furniture in the house was destroyed and a goat died in the incident. Locals suspect that miscreants set the house on fire by hurling a petrol bomb.
No one was living in the house at the time; it was mainly used for keeping livestock.
The incident took place at around 1:30am on Wednesday (November 11) in Bagoan village of Daulatpur upazila.
According to local sources, miscreants threw several petrol bombs there in the early hours of the night. Several livestock were kept there. Although local residents managed to rescue the animals, the fire destroyed the household furniture and killed a goat.
Nusrat Tabassum’s mother, Zohra Khatun Papia, told that they suddenly heard a loud explosion. When they went to the house, they found it engulfed in flames. Local residents rushed to the scene and tried to extinguish the fire, but by then the belongings inside the house had been reduced to ashes.
Locals said Nusrat’s father, Abdul Halim, also known as Tom Master, a former headteacher of Bagoan Secondary School, used to live in the house. He now lives in another house he built nearby.
Following the incident, lawmaker Nusrat Tabassum expressed her anger in a post on her verified Facebook account. She wrote, “A petrol bomb has been hurled at our home. I do not know who did it. If you think you can silence my voice this way, you are mistaken. I will continue my work, even through the path of fire. Inquilab Zindabad.”
Nusrat Tabassum is the joint convener of the National Citizen Party (NCP) and chief organiser of its women's wing, Jatiya Nari Shakti. She is a member of the 13th Parliament representing reserved women's seat-50 (parliamentary constituency 350). She was elected unopposed as a candidate of the Jamaat-led alliance.
Additional Superintendent of Police in Kushtia Delwar Hossain confirmed the incident, saying, “Someone set fire to the house of reserved-seat MP Nusrat Tabassum. We are at the scene. The incident is being investigated.”
The exact cause of the fire, the identities of those involved and the motive behind the incident will be established through investigation.