Online Desk  :  BNP leaders and activists staged a protest rally in Gazipur on Saturday, demanding the release of freedom fighter and imprisoned leader Nurul Islam Sarkar. The rally caused severe traffic congestion on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway.The protest took place around 10:30 am near the Tongi College Gate area in Gazipur City, beside the highway. Hasan Uddin Sarkar, a central BNP leader and the elder brother of Nurul Islam Sarkar, addressed the rally as the chief guest. The event was organised by the Nurul Islam Sarkar Mukti Parishad. Several other BNP leaders, including Salahuddin Sarkar, Rakib Uddin Sarkar Pappu, and Shahanur Islam Roni, the son of Nurul Islam Sarkar, also spoke at the rally.

The large crowd of activists and leaders brought traffic on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway to a standstill. After the rally, a massive protest march demanding Nurul Islam Sarkar’s release set off from Tongi College Gate, passed through Gazipur, and returned to Tongi College Gate, concluding around noon. The protest caused a two-hour traffic disruption, leading to severe congestion on both sides of the road. Vehicle movement resumed normal flow around 12:45 pm.

Iskandar Habibur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Tongi West Police Station, stated that the traffic disruption was caused by the large number of BNP activists attending the rally. He confirmed that traffic returned to normal after the protest ended. Nurul Islam Sarkar, a BNP leader and freedom fighter, has been imprisoned for over two decades after being sentenced to death in the murder case of former Member of Parliament Ahsan Ullah Master. Since the political shift on August 5, his family and BNP supporters have been demanding his release through various actions.