Govt sends letters to foreign missions over arrest of Fakhrul, Abbas, Naya Paltan incident
The government has sent letters to the foreign missions in Dhaka explaining the reasons of arresting opposition BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and its standing committee member Mirza Abbas.
The letter also explained the reasons of the clash between police and the leaders and activists of opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party in front of the party’s headquarters at Naya Paltan in the capital on 7 December.
The letters were sent through the foreign ministry on Monday, confirmed a source of the ministry.
It said the leaders and activists of BNP blocked the road in front of its Naya Paltan office on 7 December though they neither have any scheduled programme nor took permission from the police for this. Police requested them to move away as the movement of transport was hampered due to their blockade. But ignoring the call, the BNP demonstrators blasted cocktails there and started throwing brick bats on police and vandalising vehicles. Forty nine policemen were injured in the attack. One of them is in critical condition, the letter added.
The letter further said at a stage a clash broke out between the demonstrators and the police. Sadly, a passer-by died in the incident. Large scale losses could be averted as police took effective measures then.
Arrest of Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas
Regarding the arrest of Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas, the letter said the secretary general of the BNP and the party’s standing committee member were arrested on allegation of planning indiscriminate violence and instigating the party activists to attack the law enforcers.
The letter also said police have filed four cases against the BNP leaders and activists, including Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Mirza Abbas, at Paltan, Motijheel, Ramna and Shahjahanpur police stations on allegation of attacking police. DB police questioned Mirza Fakhrul and Mirza Abbas primarily at the DB office in the capital on 8 December.
Later, they were shown arrested in the case filed with Paltan police station as they were found to be involved with the planning of the attack on law enforcement forces. They were produced before the CMM (chief metropolitan magistrate) court in Dhaka that day. The court sent them to jail declining their bail pleas, it added.
The government, in the letter, also said no one is above the law. BNP leaders should have held the rally respecting the law. But they did not show any respect to the law. Their goal was to bring an unconstitutional force to power by creating violence. BNP and its allies did the same in 2014 and in 2018. That’s why the law enforcement agency did not take any risk this time.
It said the two BNP leaders were arrested for planning to orchestrate indiscriminate violence in Dhaka centring the 10 December rally as the government cannot allow anyone to hamper public safety and the country’s law and order situation by organising indiscriminate violence.