Fear gripped many families having young members in Dhaka as law enforcement agencies continued their night-time block raids and door-to-door searches in residential areas to arrest people involved in 鈥榲andalism鈥� during the recent student protests.
抖阴精品 talked with residents of two areas of Dhaka who experienced such night-time block raids in their areas in the past few days.
Such a block raid was carried out at the Azimpur government quarter area on Saturday night.
People, mostly government employees and their family members, were left panicked during the five-hour-long block raid that started at 10:00pm.
Police visited several buildings and checked the identity cards of students and their mobile phones during the raid.
Seeking anonymity, a security guard at a quarter said that police picked up at聽 least seven people from the quarter.
Sharing the experience of the raid, an 86-year-old woman said that she had never seen such a police drive in Bangladesh after the 1971 liberation war.
鈥業 just recalled my 1971 experience when I was in Bhola. On Saturday night, police entered the houses of common people like the Pakistani army in 1971,鈥� she said.
Earlier on Thursday, a block raid was conducted in the Arjatpara area of Mohakhali.
People in the area said that the night turned into a nightmare for them as law enforcers went door-to-door in search of suspects.
Azimpur and Mohakhali saw huge protests in the past week during the student movement.
Locals said that power connections were snapped in areas during the police drives, while local people were asked to quickly close their shops through the public announcement system before the raid began.
Doors and windows in the house were ordered to be closed, they said.
A local shopkeeper in the Arjatpara area said that around 9:00pm on Thursday, the army and the police came into the area and asked them to close the shop.
鈥楾hen their drive started... The roads in the area were in their possession, and the electricity was turned off. Those who tried to light alternative lamps in the house were asked to turn off the lamps,鈥� the shopkeeper said.
Referring to the scary situation, the shopkeeper said that she heard that boys were taken from different houses.
A private university student said that they had been living in a state of fear for the past few days.
鈥楾he way the joint forces conducted the operation in this area, it seems that we are in a war situation,鈥� he said.
On Friday, Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told the media that they were conducting block raids to arrest the people who vandalised state properties during the student movement.
鈥楢nalysing the CC camera footage, other pieces of evidence and information provided by intelligence agencies, police are arresting the people involved in vandalism,鈥� he said.
On Monday, the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, said that due to the student movement for quota reforms, students, supporters of the BNP, and like-minded parties were being arrested indiscriminately. 聽
鈥楨ven though many have been picked up, they cannot be traced,鈥� he said.
鈥楢lthough there is an obligation to produce a detained person to court within 24 hours of detention, many of those arrested are being taken to court after four to five days or more,鈥� added the BNP leader.
Ruling Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader said on Monday that law enforcement agencies did not arrest or torture any innocent students.
鈥楾hose who were directly involved in criminal activities and violence are being arrested only based on specific information,鈥� he said.
Starting with block raids and other drives, police and other law enforcement agencies have arrested over 10,000 people across Bangladesh since July 15.
抖阴精品 correspondents reported from different districts that several hundred more people were arrested in the past 24 hours between Sunday morning and Monday across Bangladesh.
DMP assistant commissioner Jahangir Kabir told reporters on Monday that 14 more cases were filed in connection with the quota movement clashes in Dhaka over the past 24 hours until 6:00am on Monday.
With this, a total of 243 cases have been recorded in different police stations in the DMP area, he said.
DMP arrested 2,822 people, including 58 in the past day, in these cases, he said.
A Dhaka court on Monday placed nine people, including anti-quota movement organiser Arif Sohel and former BRAC university teacher Asif Mahtab, on six-day remand in a case filed with Banani police station on charges of torching Setu Bhaban.
The court also sent 119 people to jail on the day.
The student protests, seeking quota reform in government services, saw at least 213 people killed in clashes and their aftermath between July 16 and July 28.
