Gulshan cafes see few customers
The July 1 militant attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery has cast a shadow over restaurants in the capital's Gulshan as people now fear hanging out.
The restaurants and cafes that used to be packed with guests in the evenings see only a handful of customers even two weeks after the incident, say locals and restaurants' staff.
Hospitals in the area where many foreign missions and embassies are located have also been witnessing a smaller number of patients though multilayer security arrangements, including barricades, have been put in place to prevent unnecessary vehicular movement into the premises, hospital sources said.
“I think people are still in fear,” said a staff of Sbarro restaurant on Gulshan Avenue, referring to the incident, in which militants killed 20 people, mostly foreigners.
Wishing not to be named, he added that a good number of people, including some 50 foreigners, used to visit the place every day before the incident. Now, hardly 15 foreigners come to the restaurant each day.
According to the staff of the United Hospital very close to the cafe, the hospital has received a few patients in the last couple of days.
One of them said there were multiple layers of security checks, even for them, before entering the hospital.
The Lake View Clinic next to the Holey Artisan was shut after the unprecedented terror attack. It is yet to open, said policemen deployed at the place.
The police have been forbidding people to walk on the footpaths by the Gulshan Lake as it is just behind the cafe attacked.
Militants equipped with heavy firearms stormed the Holey Artisan restaurant at Gulshan-2 on the evening of July 1 and held hostage its guests and employees.
The hostage standoff ended with a military commando operation the next morning killing five militants and a cafe's employee suspected of having been involved.
A tea-stall vendor near the Gulshan-2 intersection said security was previously beefed up following the murder of Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella in October last year.
Back then an additional number of law enforcers were deployed in the area. “But things returned to normalcy after a few days,” he added.
The tea seller further said he observed that policemen had been lax in carrying out their duties during the month of Ramadan, especially after iftar, as public movement was thin at the time.
Employees at the United Hospital also said they had seen relaxed security arrangements in the area at the end of Ramadan.
During a recent visit to the area, the correspondents saw policemen search people at different checkpoints. They were also barring rickshaws from entering the area.
Vehicular and public movements were thin at Gulshan-1 and Gulshan-2 intersections even on the weekday, contrasting with the usual scene of long tailbacks in the busy area before the attack.
Local people said security arrangements were tightened in the area only after the July 1 attack.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) now monitors some 600 security cameras installed in Gulshan, police sources said.
Moreover, there are numerous close circuit cameras installed by embassies, schools and apartment owners there.
Assistant Commissioner Rafiqul Islam (Gulshan zone) of the DMP said law enforcers had placed six additional checkpoints increasing the number of checkpoints to 18. Seventeen patrol teams have been deployed at the diplomatic zone.
Rafiqul rejected the allegation of lax security in the area before the terror attack.
“We always remain alert while on duty. We have increased our surveillance after the incident.”
An investigation is on to find out flaws, if there is any, in security measures before the attack, the police official said.
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