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“One of them started beating me severely with a stick. He kicked my bag and asked, ‘What are you doing here?’” Hridoy told The Daily Star. He said the attackers beat devotees, searched bags, and chased people out during the hour-long mayhem.

Shiuli Begum, 28, who often attends the urs seeking alms, had brought along her two-month-old child on Thursday.

“I was standing with my baby in my arms while people were running around in panic. Suddenly, a boy came and struck me four times with a cane. I never thought they would hit me too,” she said.

Several witnesses, including shop owners in the area, said the attackers were Jamaat-Shibir activists.

“We have primary information that many of the attackers were from Shibir,” said a senior police officer of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Mirpur Division, requesting anonymity.

Several witnesses also alleged that police vehicles were stationed in front of the shrine gate during the attack, but officers remained inactive.

Asked about the allegation, DMP Assistant Commissioner of Darus Salam Zone Imdad Hossain Bipul said, “A patrol car might have been there, or they might have gone to the spot after hearing about the incident.”

Regarding the lack of legal action even a day later, he said, “We haven’t received any complaint yet. Action will be taken once we get one.”

When asked about allegations of Jamaat-Shibir involvement, Mir Ahmed told The Daily Star, “The allegations are baseless. It was an anti-narcotics drive by police.”

After being told that footage and witness accounts did not show police involvement, the lawmaker said both plainclothes and uniformed police had been present, claiming that the Mirpur deputy commissioner had already briefed the media about the anti-drug drive.

Deputy Commissioner of DMP’s Mirpur Division Md Mostak Sarker told this newspaper that he had made no such statement. Police were not conducting any anti-narcotics drive at the time, he said.

In a statement yesterday, Md Ataur Rahman Sarker, member of Jamaat’s central majlis-e-shura and publicity-media secretary of its Dhaka City North unit, claimed that law enforcers conducted an anti-narcotics drive at the shrine from 10:00pm to midnight on Thursday.

Denying the party’s involvement, he said, “It has become an inherent habit of some political parties and media outlets to spread propaganda by dragging Jamaat into everything, which is highly unfortunate.”

Since August 5, 2024, Sufi shrines across the country have increasingly come under mob attacks. According to a January study by Maqam: Center for Sufi Heritage, at least 97 shrines were attacked between August 5, 2024, and December 31, 2025, leaving at least three people dead and 468 injured.