Protest at Secretariat over allowance demand: 14 arrested, placed on 5-day remand

A Dhaka court has placed 14 people, including Bangladesh Secretariat Officers and Employees United Council President Badiul Kabir and Vice-President Mohammad Shahin Golam Rabbani, on five days' remand each in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act at Shahbagh Police Station. 

They were allegedly staging rallies, meetings and demonstrations demanding a "Secretariat allowance" and confining the finance adviser.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jamshed Alam's court issued the order this evening (12 December) after a hearing, defence lawyer Farzana Yasmin Rakhi confirmed The Business Standard.

The other accused are: Nazrul Islam, office assistant at the Ministry of Public Administration; Roman Gazi, administrative officer at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; Abu Belal, office assistant at the Ministry of Health; Kamal Hossain, office assistant at the Ministry of Public Administration; Md Taiful Islam, personal officer to additional secretary at the Ministry of Health; Bipul Rana Biplob, office assistant at the Ministry of Finance; Md Alimuzzaman, office assistant at the Ministry of Public Administration; Bikash Chandra Roy, administrative officer at the Ministry of Health; Islamul Haque, personal officer at the Ministry of Health; Md Mohsin Ali, personal officer at the Ministry of Health; Mizanur Rahman Suman, publicity secretary of the united council and office assistant at the Ministry of Information; and Nasirul Haque Nasi, office assistant at the Cabinet Division.

The accused Badiul Kabir is a personal officer at the Ministry of Public Administration, and Mohammad Shahin Golam Rabbani is an administrative officer at the Ministry of Health.

Police produced the accused in court today, and Shahbagh Police Sub-Inspector KM Rezaul Karim applied for seven days' remand to interrogate them.

The petition stated that secret information revealed the accused conspired with fugitive "fascist Awami terrorists" to thwart the upcoming 13th national election and to paralyse the interim government and the Bangladesh Secretariat.

Preliminary investigation found that they gathered unlawfully inside the Secretariat. The petition alleged that the accused carried out the incident and thereby damaged the image of the Bangladesh Secretariat.

The petition further noted that as the Secretariat area is highly important, the DMP commissioner imposed Section 144, banning all kinds of gatherings there. The arrested and fugitive accused defied the commissioner's order and violated Section 144.

On 10 December, secretariat employees confined Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed inside the Secretariat for nearly seven hours to press their demand for the "Secretariat allowance." Later, with police assistance, he returned home. The protesters withdrew their programme around 8:30pm after receiving "assurance" of a government order (GO). 

However, when the government did not issue the notification by 3pm on 11 December, they gathered at the Secretariat again and continued chanting slogans. At the rally, they also announced plans to begin a "full-day work abstention" from the following week. Police initially detained five protesters from the Secretariat and took them into custody, later increasing the number to 14