Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
With the law-enforcing agencies’ special drive on anarchists, BNP backed-former Ward Commissioners of Dhaka City Corporation have either gone into hiding or fled the country to evade arrest, sources said.
These ward commissioners are accused of patronizing subversive activities in the capital during the nonstop country-wide blockade.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has prepared a list of such Commissioners based on field level intelligence information.
“Drive is going on to nab the Ward Commissioners who believed to the patrons of carrying out attacks and hurling bombs on vehicles and innocent people,” a senior DMP official told The New Nation on Wednesday, preferring anonymity.
He added that they are providing monetary support to make cocktail and crude bombs. Later, their cadres are being used to hurl bombs on passenger buses and police vans aiming to create panic among the city dwellers.
When asked, he said, “We have concrete evidence that they are aiding crimes during shutdowns and blockade by using their cadres”.
The official further said some miscreants have already been caught red handed when they were trying to set passenger buses on fire in city. Some arrested men have provided this information during interrogation.
Quoting the miscreants, he said, the former ward commissioners have been operating eight teams for carrying out act of violence simultaneously in the capital.
“We are yet to nab the listed commissioners as all of them have gone into hiding in fear of arrest. We have information that many of them have already fled the country sensing trouble,” he said.
When contacted, DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah, said, “We will not tolerate any more violent act of terrorism in the name of hartal and blockade. The patrons of such subversive activities will face tough action.”
He asked the city dwellers not to be panicked as the city police have taken adequate security measures to stop such attacks. “Police have started special drives to nab the criminals.”
“If needed, a joint operation will also be conducted at any time,” he added.
According to sources, last week, police conducted raid at the residence of a former ward commissioner of old town. Failing to arrest him, who went into hiding, police arrested his wife and detained her.
A former ward commission and local BNP leader of Rampura-Khilgaon fled the country on Tuesday through Benapole. He had been hiding since enforcement of the ongoing blockade by BNP-led opposition alliance.
DMP sources said that at least 280 leaders and activists of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami and their front organizations have been nabbed in the capital during the special drive by law-enforcing agencies on Tuesday night.
The drive will continue on the basis of a fresh list of political godfathers, criminals and outlaws in the city, said DMP high officials.
The law and order situation in the city sharply deteriorated in the last 16 days, with miscreants launching arson attack on buses frequently using Molotov cocktail despite vigilance and joint drives by the law enforcement agencies.
Since January 3, as many as 37 people, including women and children, sustained burn injuries from bomb attacks by the pickets. Of the injured victims, 17 sustained injuries in the capital in the last four days.
Three of them have already died at the Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
At least 35 people were killed in the last 16 days of indefinite blockade. Of them, 13 died from Molotov cocktail injuries.
During this time, around 600 vehicles were set on fire and vandalised across the country. Of those, 135 vehicles were in the capital. At least 85 of those vehicles were torched, according to media report.
