Arrests, raids continue ahead of BNP rally

Arrests of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders and activists increased across the country ahead of the party's planned rally in Dhaka's Naya Paltan on 28 October, the party leaders have alleged.

The party claimed that police raided party leaders' and activists' homes at midnight, searched Dhaka-bound buses, and set up checkpoints at entry points to the capital to instill fear among its activists and prevent them from attending the rally.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested 205 people on Thursday. Apart from BNP leaders and activists, there were other suspected individuals among them. They were all produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court in Dhaka yesterday and later sent to jail, court sources said.

Earlier on Thursday, DMP produced another 129 people before the CMM court. They were sent to jail as well.

Kamrangirchar police arrested a youth named Ratan on Thursday night. Ratan's mother, Jamila Khatun, was seen waiting in front of the CMM court to see her son.

"My son is a rickshaw driver and not involved with politics. Still, he was arrested.  After the arrest, I went to the police station but they did not allow me to meet him," Jamila Khatun wept.

Relatives of arrestees like Ratan gathered in front of the CMM court yesterday. They tried to call out their loved ones as prison vans carrying the arrestees arrived at the court premises.

The police headquarters could not provide any numbers on the recent arrests of opposition leaders and activists. DMP officials said that 311 leaders and activists of the opposition party were arrested in five days between October 21 and October 25.

According to BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, police arrested more than 1,200 of their party men and filed 16 cases across the country in three days until Thursday night.

Asked about the allegation, police headquarters deputy inspector general for operations Anwar Hossain said that there had not been any targeted raids or arrest drives against the BNP or any other political party.

DMP's Detective Branch Chief Additional Commissioner Harun-Or-Rashid said, "This is our routine work. It looks like the arrests are being made ahead of the rallies tomorrow. But that is not the case. Such arrests happen regularly.

"We will arrest anyone against whom there is a warrant today, and we will do it in the future as well."

Meanwhile, Advocate Mohammad Mamun Or Rashid, president of Faridpur Metropolitan Krishak Dal, came to Naya Paltan yesterday afternoon. He said that his car was stopped in three different places on the way to Dhaka.

He also claimed that police have closed hotels and restaurants in the adjacent areas. "We were having lunch at a restaurant near the party office after Jummah prayers. Police arrived unexpectedly and misbehaved with the hotel waiters. And then shut it down. They even tried to arrest us."