The interim committee of the Bangladesh Economic Association expressed concern over a wave of attacks on its office.
It claimed that certain members were making attempts to seize control of the association.
In a statement, signed by Mohammad Helal Uddin, member secretary of the interim committee, he claimed that the association was long dominated by the previous government鈥檚 allies, Abul Barkat and Qazi Kholiquzzaman.
Md Azizur Rahman, a former BEA vice-president and an ally of Abul Barkat, has been trying to take over the office with the backing of his students and members of Students Against Discrimination.
He also said that on February 12 at around 5:00pm, some armed individuals entered the BEA office in Eskaton, broke locks, vandalised the CCTV cameras, and looted essential documents.
About 50-60 armed activists of the banned Chhatra League and Juba League took part in the vandalism and looting, among others.
Mohammad Ali Mia, a former Criminal Investigation Department chief who was sent into forced retirement due to involvement in corruption, was also involved in attacks along with about 15-20 members of the self-styled ad hoc committee.
The statement also said that the Bangladesh Economic Association was a prestigious professional body that had historically been led by prominent economists, including interim government chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, education and planning adviser professor Wahiduddin Mahmud, finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed, and others.
The ad hoc committee conducted the second attack on February 17 at about 4:00pm when they entered the office under the pretext of holding a press conference and physically assaulted several BEA officials.
After a shift in politics following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime, the previous executive committee of the BEA, handed over responsibilities to a 29-member interim committee.
The committee was led by professor Mahbub Ullah, former professor of Development Studies at Dhaka University, as convener, and professor Md Helal Uddin, an economist and executive head of the Microcredit Regulatory Authority, as member secretary.
The statement said that BEA members emphasised that any grievances should be resolved through dialogue with the interim committee.
