On May 1, the committee, elected to oversee welfare of residents of the area, voted at its annual general meeting not to allow anyone in the area to keep dogs. Subsequently, all dog-owners in Mohakhali DOHS, estimated to be about 60-70 in number, received letters warning them to remove their dogs from the area, and were called to a meeting to reinforce the caution.

Yasser Yousuf Khan, a resident of New DOHS Mohakhali, said, "Dogs are really man's best friend, they are so loyal, vigilant and good for security, I don't understand why they (DOHS Council) have been frantically traumatizing us to get rid of dogs from society."

According to the Khan family, they were forced to file a general diary (GD) against the Mohakhali DOHS Council at the Kafrul Thana police station after one of their German Shepherd dogs was allegedly kidnapped from the street.

"The Council guards snatched my dog when the servant was walking him on the street and tried to blackmail me into giving an undertaking not to keep my dogs, so I filed a GD against them," said Yousuf Khan.

Major (Rtd) Afsar, secretary of the Mohakhali DOHS Council, has denied any improper or threatening action on their part. "The Council as such has no legal authority to ban dogs in the area. All we have done is to try to discourage people from keeping them as pets," he said.

Asked about the reasons behind such a drastic decision on their part, Major Afsar explained that dogs create a disturbance in the area with their loud barking, frighten children, and even attack people in some cases.

"Many people have kept dogs of violent nature, that are not intended for breeding at home. We have admonished owners whose dogs are of this sort of breed, or whose dogs have attacked other people, to remove them from the DOHS premises," he said.

Sources in the Council said, that if the dog-owners did not comply, the military police would be informed to come in and take away the dogs by force.

"It will be out of our hands then. Whether they throw the dogs away somewhere, or shoot them to death, the main thing is there should not be any dogs in Mohakhali DOHS," sources said.

The unfortunate dog-owners of Mohakhali DOHS have appealed to authorities for sympathy regarding their beloved pets, and expressed their fervent hope that the Mohakhali DOHS Council Committee will reverse its decision and refrain from any extreme steps.