Fear of arrest has gripped the opposition leaders and activists of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and other like-minded parties amid a wholesale arrest drive by police following deadly student protests demanding quota reform.
Most BNP leaders and activities were not staying in their homes at night to avoid arrest, while the party people alleged that police were also picking up family members of the party leaders if they were not found.
The crackdown began after the government blamed the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami for the violence and attacks on government establishments in Dhaka and other places during the student protests.
BNP leaders from different districts told 抖阴精品 that they were now on the run as law enforcement agencies were conducting raids on houses accompanied by local leaders of the ruling Awami League and its associate bodies.
Many BNP leaders and activists have turned off their mobile phones in Lakshmipur to hide their positions, district BNP member secretary Hasibur Rahman told 抖阴精品 on Thursday.
He said that over 70 BNP people were arrested in the past five days as a case was filed against 13 named and 60鈥�70 unknown BNP people under the Explosives Act following the student movement.
Hasibur said that, as there are many unnamed accused in the cases, police conducted raids at 500 houses of BNP leaders and activists in the past five days.
He said that BNP supporters were not allowed to open their shops and other businesses.
Lakshmipur Sadar police officer-in-charge Yesin Faruk Majumder said that efforts were being made to arrest the 鈥榗riminals鈥� based on specific allegations.
Lakshmipur district BNP president Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie was arrested in Dhaka鈥檚 Elephant Road area, said Shayrul Kabir Khan, a member of the BNP media wing.
BNP leaders and activists in Kushtia district are on the run due to fear of arrest in the past few days, party leaders said.
Kushtia police have filed at least four cases against more than 2,000 BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists following the student protest in the district, Kushtia model police officer-in-charge Sheikh Sohail Rana said.
The police have already arrested around a hundred leaders and activists, including Kushtia city BNP general secretary AK Biswas Babu.
Magura district police have arrested several leaders and activists at various levels of BNP in the district in the past few days.
Magura district BNP leader Shahid Hasan told reporters that during the student movement on July 19, the police filed a case under several clauses citing obstruction of government work. Since then, the police have arrested about 30 party leaders and activists.聽
On Wednesday, the court denied bail to all the arrested accused and sent them to jail.
The arrested leaders include district Juba Dal president Washikur Rahman Kollol and its general secretary, Feroz Ahmed.
District unit BNP鈥檚 Islampur Para office has been put under lock and key for the past week.
Over 100 leaders and activists of the BNP and Jamaat were arrested in the past five days in Khulna, while the police continued searching the houses of opposition people every night.
There were no reports of vandalism in Khulna city during the student protest.
However, the police filed three separate cases under the Special Powers Act at Khulna鈥檚 Khalishpur, Sonadanga, and Labanchara police stations.
Khulna Metropolitan Police additional commissioner Ahsan Habib said that there were old cases against those who were arrested.
鈥楾hey worked to incite violence. They sabotaged under the guise of a quota reform demand,鈥� he claimed.
Khulna district BNP member secretary SM Monirul Hasan told reporters that police were arresting BNP people without any reason as the BNP was not involved in the students鈥� protest.
鈥楶olice are going to the houses of leaders and activists. A kind of panic and anxiety has gripped leaders and activists,鈥� he said.
Incidents of such arrests and police raids were also reported from Sylhet, Chittogram, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Manikganj, Faridpur, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Noakhali, Feni, Chandpur, Cumilla, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Pabna, Sirajganj, Chapainawabganj, Joypurhat, Gaibandha, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Naogaon, Panchagarh, Dinajpur, Nilphamari, and Bogura.
BNP vice-chairman Nitai Roy Chowdhury told 抖阴精品 that at least 5,000 BNP leaders had been arrested in the past five days.
BNP, just like other political and socio-cultural organisations, extended support to the student movement as their demand was fair, he said.
鈥楾he government made a simple issue complicated just out of the ego of its high-level leadership, and later it turned violent. Now the government has started arresting BNP and other opposition leaders and activists,鈥� he said.
He said that the AL was using every opportunity to oppress the opposition to ensure their one-party rule went unchallenged.
