Staff Reporter :
Tension runs high in the capital and across the country over Zia Orphanage Trust case verdict tomorrow involving BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman and two other party leaders.
Many fear the political situation in the country is becoming volatile overnight as BNP has asked party men to come out with protest nationwide in case Begum Zia is prosecuted and jailed.
Ruling party Awami League, on the other hand, has directed party leaders and workers to be around to take to the streets to foil any protest BNP men may try to organize challenging the verdict. It is going to be a direct confrontation is otherwise not avoided from either side.
Police are carrying crackdown on BNP leaders and workers in the capital and throughout the country and has issued public warning through press release and TV footage asking people to avoid political gathering and remain peaceful.
BNP central party office was cordoned off from last evening by law enforces in the city’s Naya Paltan area. No one is able to go into or come out from the office giving a new dimension to the police action on the major opposition
Police are also asking people not to carry sticks, firearms and such other explosive materials. They are also warning people meaning the opposition leaders and workers not create barricade and banned holding rallies in city streets and public places in the wake of the verdict.
Police have set up security check posts at major entry points of the city from outside and has intensified security checks in major city intersections creating sudden panic in public mind. All such preparations are afoot facing the verdict in the graft case but many wonder what the verdict itself is?
The judge presiding over the Special Tribunal at the old city will give the verdict on Thursday in open court but the government preparation suggests that they know in advance that BNP chief will be prosecuted and jailed. So, preemptive measures are at work to maintain public order.
On the other hand, BNP claims the prosecution witnesses have failed to prove involvement of Begum Zia in the graft case and in fact it is not a case to be tried under criminal law for being a case involving charitable organization. The Prosecution lawyers have also failed to prove her guilt and in their view Begum Zia will be acquitted in a fair verdict. They have threatened they will not sit home if she is punished in an unjust verdict.
The tension in the public life is already creating many setbacks. The stock market has plunged in a bigger margin from last week sending shock waves to small investors. Families in cities are living in tension as to when and where their husbands, sons and brothers are facing police detention. Police are regularly carrying raids at homes of opposition men. The law and order situation is rapidly deterioration and the rule of law is denied in case of people facing mass arrest.
The city traffic is also facing serious setback as the number of transports has declined sharply overnight in city streets leaving passengers to wait in long queue for transports. SSC examines are passing uncertain time whether or not they will be able to appear for exams next week.
Also guardians of students attending schools, colleges and universities are passing time in tension whether they will return homer safe and all academic institutions will remain open and not become shut. People taking treatment are also facing uncertainty to come to the capital and see the physicians.
The main problem is related to parliament election. Although it is scheduled for December the crisis is mounting from now on. Meanwhile, the government fears unrest may grip the nation as BNP has asked party men to take to the streets if the party chief is prosecuted.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan however denied that police are arresting opposition leaders and workers. He said the arrested are anarchists and their detention aimed at maintaining public orders.
The government has deployed huge number of law enforces in the streets to quell the situation when it has also banned public gathering in city streets. The situation is terrific in the ground.
“We know in our politics life is cheap and arrest is easy. We only hope the law enforcing agencies will exercise restraints as law enforcers. Innocent people should not be victimized and mass people must not be harassed,” a security analyst told The New Nation yesterday, asking not to be named.
