Jamaat-e-Islami’s Nayeb-e-Ameer Dr. Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher has blamed the Bangladesh Mission for the egg-throwing incident targeting National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Akhtar Hossain in New York. “If we had left together, such an incident would not have occurred,” he remarked.
In an interview with the US-based Bangla newspaper Thikana, Dr. Taher gave a detailed explanation. He said confusion arose due to differences in visa categories. Government officials with G-1 visas don’t require fingerprints, while those with tourist visas do. As a result, they had to walk through immigration, where security lapses occurred.
At the time of the incident, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Tasnim Zera were present, while Taher kept some distance. “Our activists were chanting slogans in my name. I asked them to also chant Fakhrul sahib’s name, but in their excitement they didn’t listen. Fakhrul felt uncomfortable, so I maintained a bit of distance,” he explained.
Dr. Taher further said he was busy attending a reception and delivering a short speech when the egg-throwing occurred, and he only learned about it afterward.