BNP rally amid obstacles and arrests

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is set to hold their grand rally in Dhaka today amid obstacles, arrests and searches at every entrance of Dhaka. At the same time, the counter statements from the ruling party leaders regarding the BNP’s rally have further escalated the situation.

The ruling Awami League is also holding a counter rally today, Saturday. Although the police have given the permission at last moments, an unnerving situation prevails over the rally counter rally of the opposition and the ruling party within a distance of only 1.5 kilometres in the city.

The situation had already intensified over the question of permission for the BNP’s mass rally at Naya Paltan in Dhaka. Several ministers of the government and police officials had been saying for the last three days that the BNP won’t be allowed to hold their rally at Naya Paltan.

However, on Wednesday afternoon some of the police officials changed their tone and gave positive indications over the issue. Later, at around 9:00 pm on Friday, the police gave permission to the ruling party and the opposition to hold rallies at the south gate Baitul Mukarram National Mosque and Naya Paltan respectively. However, Jamaat-e-Islami was denied the permission to hold a rally in Dhaka.

Although the uncertainty over the venue of the rally is over, drives are on to arrest and detain the BNP leaders and activists across the country. In the last 24 hours, as many as 426 BNP leaders and activists were arrested in 18 districts across the country, including Dhaka.

The rally-bound BNP activists from across the country faced obstacles even on the day before the grand rally. They were stopped at all the police check posts setup at the entry points of the city.

Police search inside the city has also intensified since Friday afternoon. In addition to that, public transport services were called off on several routes towards the capital from different parts of the country without any notice.

However, the BNP activists started thronging to the rally venue at Naya Paltan from noon yesterday. They brought out a procession there at one point.

However, the police, in the evening, came up with riot cars and water cannons and diffused the crowd from there. A number of BNP activists took position at the venue later in the night.

The police have been conducting drives across the country, including Dhaka, for the last few days ahead of the BNP’s mass rally. Some 426 BNP activists were arrested in the last 24 hours. Of them, 205 activists were arrested in Dhaka alone.

The arrestees were produced before the court and were sent to jail after hearings. Some 221 BNP leaders and activists were arrested from the remaining 17 districts. Police conducted 18 separate drives in different parts of the country, including Panchagarh, Thakurgaon, Rangpur, Khulna, Jashore, Mymensingh and Dhaka. In total, as many as 839 BNP activists were arrested in the last two days.

The BNP have been complaining that these drives are being conducted as part of the government's suppressive policy ahead of their grand rally. However, police refuted the allegation saying police are arresting only those who are accused in the old sabotage cases.

BNP too are saying that their leaders and activists are being shown arrested in different old cases.

Even the common people are being searched in the check posts at four entrances of Dhaka and in adjacent areas. The members of the law enforcement agencies are searching every public transport and are questioning the passengers. Apart from the police, intelligence agency officials are also deployed at these check posts in plain clothes.

The police have set up several check posts at different entrances of Dhaka and nearby points, including the Gabtoli bridge, Abdullahpur in Uttara, Kamarpara in Uttara, Postogola bridge and Babubazar Bridge in Shyampur, Signboard area in Narayanganj and at one side of the Sultana Kalam bridge on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway and conducted searches.

They are stopping public transport coming from outside Dhaka and questioning suspicious persons. The police are searching bags and examining cell phones.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Shyampur police station officer-in-charge (OC) Nazrul Islam claimed that the outposts have been set up to prevent arms carriers and drug peddlers from entering Dhaka.

Meanwhile, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) – 2 said in a statement that RAB patrolled different areas of Mohammadpur, Adabor, Dhanmondi, Kalabagan, New Market, Hazaribagh, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Tejgaon and Tejgaon industrial area to keep the situation normal and to avoid any unwarranted situation. They also set up security posts in these places to search different vehicles.

In Narayanganj, police set up a security outpost in the Signboard area of Fatullah and searched passengers and interrogated them. Apart from that, police built up several check posts in different places of Narayanganj and searched the Dhaka-bound public transports. Check posts were also set up in Savar EPZ, Dhour Beribadh in Ashulia, 300-feet area in Purbachal and Chandra intersection in Gazipur.

No bus has left for Dhaka from Mymensingh since Friday morning. The passengers are suffering immensely due to the sudden suspension of bus services without any prior notice.

No bus is leaving for Dhaka from the Maskanda bus terminal in Mymensingh city. The bus counters are closed. There were no Dhaka-bound buses in other points of the city, including Shiakrikanda bypass and Akua bypass. Usually, Dhaka-bound buses from Jamalpur and Sherpur pick up passengers from these two points of the city.

The passengers are trying to take alternative routes to reach their destinations. A group of five people from Char Dhakirkandi village in Phulpur upazila came to Maskanda bus terminal. However, they had to return as no bus was available.

Prothom Alo tried to contact Mymensingh Transport Owners Association secretary Somnath Saha over the phone for his comment in this regard. However, he didn’t respond.

The BNP has alleged that the bus services were shut down to thwart their grand rally.

There are allegations against the ruling party activists of forcing the boatmen of Buriganga to stop carrying passengers from Keraniganj by intimidating them. It has been learnt that boat movements were closed down in the Jinjira Ferry Ghat, Mandail Bazar Ghat, Aganagar Ghat and several other ghats.

On condition of anonymity, several boatmen of the Jinjira Bazar Ghat and Aganagar Gudara Ghat area said several people came to them Thursday evening and threatened them. They said there should be no boat movement from then on. They would see who dares to disobey them, they said.

They also told the boatmen before leaving that there should be no boats in the ghats from tomorrow (Saturday) morning.

Speaking regarding the allegation, Keraniganj thana Awami League general secretary M E Mamun said nobody gave any such order. He had no idea about who threatened the boatmen, he claimed.

The BNP leaders and activists have alleged that the police are stopping vehicles carrying BNP leaders and arresting them at the check post on the Savar highway. Meanwhile, local Jubo League activists took position with sticks at several points of Savar yesterday.

Ashulia thana and Savar poura (municipal) Jubo League brought out a protest procession from the Thana bus stand area in Savar. Later, they took position beside the Aricha-bound lane in the same area and staged a seat-in programme.

There has been a heated environment in the politics of the country in recent times over BNP’s grand rally. The BNP leaders, however, claimed that their programme will be peaceful unless there is any intervention from the ruling party. The ruling Awami League too has said their programme would be peaceful. Despite that, people are concerned with the two rallies to be held within a short distance in the city.