7,835 BNP leaders, activists arrested
Staff Reporter :
At least 7,835 leaders and activists of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have been arrested in eight days between 28 October and Saturday throughout the country.
Of the arrested, more than seven are top leaders of the party, including the secretary general, and over fifty influential leaders of the capital city and district units, including former lawmakers.
Around 2239 BNP leaders and activists were arrested in Dhaka city in the last eight days and over 5 thousand outside Dhaka. Most of them were arrested in cases filed over violence centering the BNP rally on 28 October, murder of a policeman, vandalising police vehicles and arson.
On 29 October, the day after the BNP’s grand rally was foiled, the police arrested the party’s general secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Later, BNP standing committee members Mirza Abbas and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, joint secretaries general Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, Khairul Kabir Khokon and Mojibur Rahman Sarwar, media cell convener Zahir Uddin Swapan, Dhaka city north BNP member secretary Aminul Haque and Emran Saleh (Prince) were arrested in Dhaka.
Of them, Mirza Abbas, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Moazzem Hossain and Aminul Haque are in police custody on remand. Court granted five to six days of remand for them.
A source of police said Amir Khasru, Moazzem Hossain, Zahir Uddin Swapan and Aminul have been placed on remand in the case filed over the killing of a policeman. None of them confessed to their crimes.
Mirza Abbas has been remanded in a case filed over attack on police in Shahjahanpur, vandalism and arms loot.
He would later be shown arrested in a police killing case. Separate remand would be sought for him in this case too if required.
According to the sources, a total of 5,597 BNP leaders-activists were arrested outside Dhaka city from 28 October to 4 November.
Among them, 450 people were arrested in Jashore, 310 in Chattogram, 267 in Narayanganj, 238 in Sirajganj, 220 in Jhenaidah and 204 in Naogaon and 175 in Noakhali.
Around 150 each were arrested in Dinajpur, Khulna, Gazipur, Rajshahi, Mymensingh, Tangail, Netrokona, Pabna, Kishoreganj and Narsingdi.
Over 100 each were arrested in Pirojpur, Patuakhali, Chuandanga, Satkhira, Faridpur, Brahmanbaria, Chapainawabganj and Bagura. Over 70 were arrested each in Natore, Joypurhat, Sherpur and Jamalpur.
BNP sources said most of the leaders of the party’s central and district units went into hiding since the police started a stringent operation to nab the party leaders following violence in the party’s grand rally in Dhaka on 28 October.
