Dhaka, Dec. 13 -- Senior BNP leader Mirza Abbas has described how he "maintained calm and silence" when confronted by an aggressive crowd while visiting Sharif Osman bin Hadi in hospital following an attempt on the Inquilab Mancha convenor's life.

Speaking at a protest in front of BNP's central office in New Paltan on Saturday, Abbas said that when he arrived, those shouting hostile slogans would have dispersed at his instruction.

"Hadi is like a son to me. Hearing of him being shot was a psychological blow," he said.

"This attack is on democracy itself. Those behind it are dark forces; their hands must be smashed," Abbas added, denouncing the perpetrators as agents of malign influence.

Hadi, who announced his independent candidacy fo...