5-day remand for Abbas, Alal, 8-day for Sarwardi

Separate courts in Dhaka granted a five-day remand for BNP Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas and Joint Secretary General Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, and an eight-day remand for Lieutenant General (retired) Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardi in three cases.

Mirza Abbas was arrested on Tuesday in a case filed under the Sabotage and Explosives Substances Act with the capital's Shahjahanpur Police Station.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shafi Uddin passed the remand order against him as police produced the senior BNP leader before the court at around 3:00pm and pleaded to place him on a five-day remand in the case. Mirza Abbas's lawyer had applied for bail.

During the hearing, Judge Shafi Uddin allowed Mirza Abbas to speak when he drew the judge's attention and asked for permission to state something.

"Machinations are on to wipe us out of Bangladesh. Not only the BNP but also the Awami League will be leaderless. At one point the country will be leaderless, I am telling you all," he said.

"I have been involved in politics for 50 years. I have been in numerous processions. I was part of the movement that brought down the Ershad government. I have not seen any such cases in all these years," the BNP leader added.

BNP Joint Secretary General Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, arrested in the case of vandalism at the Bangladesh Police Liberation War Museum in the capital's Rajarbagh, was produced in Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Wednesday afternoon.

Police on Tuesday arrested Hasan Sarwardi in a case accusing him of committing treason by resorting to lies in a bid to destabilise the country.

The case was filed with the Paltan police station on Sunday, accusing Sarwardi alongside Mian Zahidul Islam Arefy, who introduced himself as an adviser to US President Joe Biden, and BNP leader Ishraque Hossain.

Courts send over 300 more BNP-Jamaat activists to jail

Over 300 activists of BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e Islami, who were arrested on Tuesday, were sent to jail after being produced before courts yesterday. 

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested 141 BNP-Jamaat men on Tuesday in connection with the Saturday's violence over the main opposition's rally. As of 31 October, the DMP arrested a total of 2019 people since 21 October.

Speaking to The Business Standard, Metropolitan Kotwali Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Anwar Hossain said 10 people were arrested on charges of sabotage during the BNP's "grand" rally in Dhaka on 28 October.

Those who were involved in violence and arson attacks across the country prior to and during the hartal and blockade enforced by BNP-Jamaat will be arrested after investigating each incident, and legal action will be taken, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Md Habibur Rahman on Wednesday also urged the city dwellers to nab and hand over the clandestine attackers to police.

A total of 21 arson incidents have been reported across the country in the first two days of the three-day nationwide blockade called by the BNP-Jamaat and their allies, the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence said yesterday.