Staff Reporter :A total of 18,000 people have been arrested by police and other law enforcement agencies since January 5, when the BNP chairperson and 20-party alliance Chief Khaleda Zia called an indefinite blockade across the country, alliance sources claimed. Police also filed 9,000 cases with the police stations across the country accusing a total of 1.72 lakh people over the ongoing political violence, they further claimed. Cases have also been filed against Khaleda Zia over political violence. The alliance said that many of the cases were filed under the Special Powers Act for attempting murder using explosives. Those arrested by the law enforcing agencies were mostly the leaders and activists of BNP and Jamaat.The government, however, claimed that the opposition activists were detained for their involvement in acts of violence, arson attack and sabotage during the blockade and hartals.Denying the allegation, the opposition alliance branded it as “mass arrest” saying that the government has started the crackdown on the opposition activists only to curb their democratic rights to protest.It also expressed concern over the indiscriminate arrest and detention of the alliance’s supporters accusing them in ‘subversive acts. “Some 18,000 opposition activists, including senior leaders of the BNP and its 19 other allies, have been arrested since the enforcement of the blockade programme,” Shyrul Kabir Khan, a press wing official of BNP told The New Nation yesterday.He alleged that the cases filed against them were falsified and those were filed only to restrain anti-government protest by the opposition alliance. On the other hand, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Joint General Secretary of the ruling Awami League said, “Such attacks and vandalism are not political acts. As these are subversive and terrorist acts, the law enforcing agencies have a right to arrest these terrorists and take lawful measures against them.” “Police are now busy for tackling blockade related violence across the country. They are now being forced to stay on-duty for more than 16 hours a day to prevent arson attack and sabotage. They have little time to investigate the cases,” a senior police official at the Police Headquarters told The New Nation yesterday, asking not to be named.Police officials in the capital said that they have fixed priority about the cases related with the blockade and hartals violence rather other regular cases like murder, theft, robbery and mugging. All the cases related to political violence are now at investigation stage. When asked, Masudur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (DC), Media Wing of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said, investigation related to the cases of arson attack, vandalism and political violence is going on through due process.”We have detected the culprits behind the sensational arson attack cases in the city. But it will take time to submit the final police report of such cases in the courts for prosecution,” he added.Replying to a question, he said, they are carrying out thorough and impartial investigations into all instances of arson attacks and killings for bringing those responsible to justice for fair trials.Masudur Rahman, however, declined to comment about the exact time to complete the investigations of the violence cases. “We are not worried about the duties of blockade and hartals because the police force have the ability to handle any emergency situation of the country,” he added.The indefinite blockade entered 57th day on Tuesday claiming lives of 114 people, mostly in arson attacks allegedly by the blockade supporters. The miscreants also torched and vandalized nearly 1,270 vehicles during the blockade.The ongoing political unrest is also gravely affecting economic activities across the country. During a question and answer session, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the parliament that the national economy had suffered Tk 1.20 lakh crore loss due to the blockade.
