April 29, 2013
Savar Tragedy - Death toll rises to 402
April 6, 2013
Hefajat-e-Islam’s Dhaka march, calls shutdown for Monday
Hefajat-e Islam on Saturday called dawn-to-dusk hartal for Monday from the grand rally that held at Motijheel intersection protesting “obstructions” on long march in various spot.
The organisation announced fresh agitation programme of rally in different district and division of the country and threatened the government of blockading Dhaka on May 5 if its 13-point demand including stern action against what they called atheist bloggers is not met by April 30.
Communications between Dhaka and the rest of the country were almost snapped on Friday as buses stayed off the roads, frequency of trains were reduced, and water vessels remained anchored at river ports fearing violence ahead of Hefajat-e-Islam’s Dhaka march today.
Transport owners said they did not operate buses on long routes on Friday fearing violence over rival programmes of ‘long march’ by Islamists and a 24-hour shutdown enforced by 25 socio-cultural-professional organisations and a transport blockade by Ganajagaran Mancha that began Friday evening.
The Hefajat-e Islam leaders alleged that specific orders from the authorities led to the scarcity of transport. They said they would march for Dhaka ‘on foot’ in case vehicles were not available. Ferry services were also closed at Mawa point creating a long tailback of vehicles on both sides of Padma and no vessels left for Dhaka from southern districts.
Frequency of trains was reduced in the eastern zone of railway but the officials claimed they did not cancel any train. ‘The forced derailment of a train in Comilla left an adverse impact on train schedules and it is yet to become normal,’ said Bangladesh Railway’s divisional manager (Chittagong) Sukumar Bhowmik.
The railway authorities on Friday night cancelled schedules of express trains which were supposed to leave for Dhaka from different cities, including Chittagong and Rajshahi.
In Chittagong, the railway authorities suspended trips of three trains to Dhaka and Noakhali scheduled for Saturday night while another Dhaka-bound train got stranded as miscreants removed tracks in Baraiarhat area of Sitakund. Mohammed Zakir Hossain, divisional traffic officer at the eastern zone of BR, said they had suspended the scheduled trips due to security concern amid frequent subversion during strikes.
The organisation announced fresh agitation programme of rally in different district and division of the country and threatened the government of blockading Dhaka on May 5 if its 13-point demand including stern action against what they called atheist bloggers is not met by April 30.
Communications between Dhaka and the rest of the country were almost snapped on Friday as buses stayed off the roads, frequency of trains were reduced, and water vessels remained anchored at river ports fearing violence ahead of Hefajat-e-Islam’s Dhaka march today.
Transport owners said they did not operate buses on long routes on Friday fearing violence over rival programmes of ‘long march’ by Islamists and a 24-hour shutdown enforced by 25 socio-cultural-professional organisations and a transport blockade by Ganajagaran Mancha that began Friday evening.
The Hefajat-e Islam leaders alleged that specific orders from the authorities led to the scarcity of transport. They said they would march for Dhaka ‘on foot’ in case vehicles were not available. Ferry services were also closed at Mawa point creating a long tailback of vehicles on both sides of Padma and no vessels left for Dhaka from southern districts.
Frequency of trains was reduced in the eastern zone of railway but the officials claimed they did not cancel any train. ‘The forced derailment of a train in Comilla left an adverse impact on train schedules and it is yet to become normal,’ said Bangladesh Railway’s divisional manager (Chittagong) Sukumar Bhowmik.
The railway authorities on Friday night cancelled schedules of express trains which were supposed to leave for Dhaka from different cities, including Chittagong and Rajshahi.
In Chittagong, the railway authorities suspended trips of three trains to Dhaka and Noakhali scheduled for Saturday night while another Dhaka-bound train got stranded as miscreants removed tracks in Baraiarhat area of Sitakund. Mohammed Zakir Hossain, divisional traffic officer at the eastern zone of BR, said they had suspended the scheduled trips due to security concern amid frequent subversion during strikes.
March 12, 2013
Police stormed into BNP office - Countrywide daylong hartal today
A team of police led by ADC Mehedi Hasan stormed into BNP's central office and broke open the door of party secretary general’s room yesterday.
Police and members of other law enforcement agencies last evening stormed
into the BNP central office at the city's Nayapaltan and broke into different
rooms including breaking into the office room of the Party Secretary General
using hammer.
The raid was unprecedented and lasted over two hours. They also arrested several senior leaders of the party who gathered at the office after attending a pre-scheduled 18-party rally in the front of the party office including Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam and Joint Secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed while putting other senior leaders on siege.
Later, police arrested BNP vice chairmen Sadeque Hossain Khoka and Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, chairperson's adviser Dr AZM Zahid Hossain, joint secretary generals Aman Ullah Aman, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed and Mohammd Shahjahan and opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque from the party office and took them to DB office in Mintu Road.
Several female leaders, including BNP vice chairman Selima Rahman, were also under siege but later they emerged from confinement while police allowed them to leave the venue. Spot reports said at least 185 BNP and 18-party leaders and workers were arrested by police from the party office during the raid and search from room to room in the five storied building. During the drive, police also ransacked different rooms of the four-storied building.
The raid was unprecedented and lasted over two hours. They also arrested several senior leaders of the party who gathered at the office after attending a pre-scheduled 18-party rally in the front of the party office including Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam and Joint Secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed while putting other senior leaders on siege.
Later, police arrested BNP vice chairmen Sadeque Hossain Khoka and Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, chairperson's adviser Dr AZM Zahid Hossain, joint secretary generals Aman Ullah Aman, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed and Mohammd Shahjahan and opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque from the party office and took them to DB office in Mintu Road.
Several female leaders, including BNP vice chairman Selima Rahman, were also under siege but later they emerged from confinement while police allowed them to leave the venue. Spot reports said at least 185 BNP and 18-party leaders and workers were arrested by police from the party office during the raid and search from room to room in the five storied building. During the drive, police also ransacked different rooms of the four-storied building.
Mehedi Hasan, additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan
Police (Motijheel), told reporters that they searched the office and arrested
the leaders and workers for creating an anarchic situation in the area. He,
however, claimed 6 cocktails were seized from office.
Just hour before the raid, a pre-announced rally of the 18-party alliance in front of the Nayapaltan office ended in chaos which was triggered by explosions of some cocktails. Some 10-11 cocktails were blasted at 5:00 pm near the Nightingale intersection area, some yards from the venue of the rally, when Fakhrul began his speech. Within a minute, he declared the end of the rally after announcing the hartal programme.
Fakhrul alleged that the government had ordered police to unleash violence. “The government’s henchmen are attacking our peaceful rallies,” he said and urged the party faithful to stand against such moves. He further blamed the government for Monday’s explosions. “The government has done it,” he said before he was whisked away. He said the opposition will observe countrywide hartal Tuesday (today).
Sadeque Hossain Khoka said the government has already made the country into a ‘police state’ and wants to foil the movement of the people by using muscle power under the 'razakar' home minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir. He also said under the leadership of Khaleda Zia, people would topple the government through movement and compel them to arrange the next election under non-party caretaker government.
Just hour before the raid, a pre-announced rally of the 18-party alliance in front of the Nayapaltan office ended in chaos which was triggered by explosions of some cocktails. Some 10-11 cocktails were blasted at 5:00 pm near the Nightingale intersection area, some yards from the venue of the rally, when Fakhrul began his speech. Within a minute, he declared the end of the rally after announcing the hartal programme.
Fakhrul alleged that the government had ordered police to unleash violence. “The government’s henchmen are attacking our peaceful rallies,” he said and urged the party faithful to stand against such moves. He further blamed the government for Monday’s explosions. “The government has done it,” he said before he was whisked away. He said the opposition will observe countrywide hartal Tuesday (today).
Sadeque Hossain Khoka said the government has already made the country into a ‘police state’ and wants to foil the movement of the people by using muscle power under the 'razakar' home minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir. He also said under the leadership of Khaleda Zia, people would topple the government through movement and compel them to arrange the next election under non-party caretaker government.
Meanwhile, Leader of the opposition Begum Khaleda Zia held an urgent meeting of the party's apex
body to review the dramatic development last night at her Gulshan office, and demanded unconditional release of leaders and activists arrested from BNP's central office. Otherwise BNP and 18 party alliance will observe 48 hours of general strike countrywide on 18 & 19 March.
The alliance also reaffirmed today’s countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal earlier called by Fakhrul before his arrest from the party central office.
Meanwhile, JAGPA chief Shafiul Alam Prodhan was also picked up while coming out after a meeting of the BNP-led 18-party alliance at BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office at night.
The alliance also reaffirmed today’s countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal earlier called by Fakhrul before his arrest from the party central office.
Meanwhile, JAGPA chief Shafiul Alam Prodhan was also picked up while coming out after a meeting of the BNP-led 18-party alliance at BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office at night.
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