Ehsanul Haque Jasim :
In a massive drive, many people belonging to BNP and Jamaat are being harassed and arrested across the country, according to reports from our correspondents.
Talking to The New Nation, some leaders and activists of the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami said that their men are in panic due to the fresh countrywide drives of the joint-forces. They are not staying home at night to avoid arrest and harassment. “The massive arrest triggered fresh worries among the party leaders and activists,” said a BNP leader. Several thousand BNP-Jamaat men have been arrested in the last few days during the drives ahead of the municipality polls likely to be held in the third week of December. Police claimed that these were regular drives against the accused and the suspected people as well as the criminals.
Some said that the ruling Awami League has already begun campaign to get their potential nominees win while BNP leaders and activists are on the run. The BNP alleged that the government has launched fresh arrest drive against its leaders and activists in a bid to hinder the party’s re-organisation across the country. Some of the party leaders said that their potential candidates are being targeted ahead of the municipality polls. The potential nominees are not being allowed to stay home, they added. BNP’s spokesperson Dr Asaduzzaman Ripon told The New Nation on Monday that the fresh drive had been launched to arrest the party men in different districts and upazilas ahead of the party’s councils. The government also wants to curb the activities of the opposition parties ahead of the municipal elections.
On the other hand, LGRD Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain on Sunday said that the criminals facing specific accusations are being arrested on large scale. Massive arrest aims at keeping law and order under control and ensuring free and fair local government body elections, he said. The latest drives of the joint forces began on Friday night. The joint forces include the police, Armed Police Battalion, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the Coast Guard.
Nearly 3000 people were arrested since after beginning of the latest drives. Nearly 1,000 were arrested in the overnight drives from Sunday night till early Monday. Many people, who are not involved with the BNP-Jamaat or the politics, were also arrested in the drives. Some of the arrestees were released later from police custody in exchange of money, said relatives of some of the arrestees.
In Dinajpur, at least 122 people, including 76 leaders and activists of the BNP and the Jamaat, were arrested from 13 upazilas of the district from Sunday night to Monday morning. Of them, 24 were arrested from Kotowali area, 12 from Birol, 11 from Chirirbandar, six from Parbatipur, eight from Birganj, 14 from Khansama, six from Kaharole, seven from Phulbari, 10 from Birampur, five from Nababganj, 14 from Hakimpur, 10 from Ghoraghat and one from Bechaganj upazilas. According to police, they were arrested in connection with different cases filed for subversive activities. In Sirajganj, police in a drive arrested 26 people, including nine leaders and activists of Jamaat-Shibir from different areas in Sadar upazila. The drive was conducted in Bagbati, Khokshabari, Ratankandi in sadar upazila and different parts of the town from Sunday night to Monday morning. In Satkhira, the joint forces arrested 46 people, including 36 activists of Jamaat-Shibir from different places of the district. Among the arrestees, 10 from Sadar, three from Kolaroa, two from Tala, seven from Kaliganj, four from Shyamnagar, four from Ashashuni, 12 from Debhata, and four from Patkelghata upazilas.
In Chapainawabganj, police in an overnight drive arrested 41 people from different upazilas of the district. In Dhaka, police in a drive arrested four activists of BNP from Nawabganj upazila of the district in a case filed for subversive activities early Monday.
