Daily Amar Desh journalist Jahidul Islam was physically assaulted by BNP activists at the party chairperson's Gulshan office yesterday.

The staff reporter of the daily newspaper came under attack while filming inside the chairperson's office, where aspirants from the Sylhet division got into a scuffle around 4:30pm.

Following the incident, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir condemned the attack and issued a statement.

Talking to The Daily Star, Jahidul said, "I had been at the BNP chairperson's Gulshan office since the morning, gathering news, talking to nomination seekers. Around 4:30pm, nomination seekers began quarrelling and scuffling with each other."

"When I tried to take footage of the incident with my phone, three to four people dragged me inside a room and beat me. They broke my phone. When I showed my press ID card, they seized it and threw me out," he added.

Jahidul claims to have identified one of the assailants as Mohammad Faisal, an office staffer, who he believes is also the cameraman for the BNP's social media page.

"Faisal broke my phone and hit me. Then others also beat me and pushed me out of the office onto the main road," he said.

As of filing this report at 7:50pm, he did not get his phone back.

When contacted, Faisal denied the accusation, saying, "This is completely false. I was not involved in this incident at all."

Meanwhile, in a statement, Fakhrul said, "During the attack and clash at the BNP Chairperson's Gulshan office, Amar Desh newspaper's reporter Jahidul was injured, and some journalists present were harassed.

"Today's incident was sudden and completely caused by a misunderstanding. I sincerely apologise to Jahidul and all other journalists present during this unfortunate event."

"Journalists in the media inform the public about the statements, speeches, and activities of political parties. This is why the media has an inseparable relationship with political parties."