Police escort delays trips

Night-time buses and trucks were made to wait for hours at Rabeya Mor of Parbatipur upazila in Dinajpur early yesterday as police won't let them go until there was a convoy of certain number of vehicles.

The delay caused enormous suffering to passengers and transport workers.

Law enforcers provide escorts for long-haul vehicles to avoid arson attacks and vandalism by criminals during the ongoing nationwide hartal and indefinite blockade by the BNP-led alliance.

Talking to The Daily Star, driver Lal Mia of a Nabil Enterprise bus on Dhaka-Dinajpur route said his trip became too far from Dhaka. Normally, the 410-km journey takes him around nine hours, but he had to wait at Rabeyar Mor for around six hours since midnight Sunday.

Lal Mia left Dhaka at 2:30pm on Sunday and reached Khalashpur of Pirganj upazila in Rangpur around 8:00pm. From there, police teams escorted convoys of vehicles to different areas around 9:30pm.

When the bus of Nabil Enterprise, carrying around 20 passengers, arrived at Rabeya Mor at 12:17am, a patrol team of highway police, led by habildar Tofazzal Hossain, stopped the bus and kept it in waiting until more vehicles reached there.

Police around 6:20am on Monday escorted the bus in a convoy of vehicles to Ranirbandar area in Chirirbandar upazila of Dinajpur, just 10-km off Rabeya Mor. There is risk of arson attacks on the stretch of the highway, according to Law enforcers.

HARTAL LARGELY PEACEFUL

Like the previous day, the second day of the countrywide 72-hour hartal passed peacefully yesterday, except for some stray incidents of violence.

In the capital, the shutdown seemingly had no impact on city residents as traffic on roads was almost normal. Commuters were seen waiting for buses at bus stops in the morning.

At least four people, including a cop, were injured in crude bomb blasts in the city.

Suspected pro-hartal pickets blasted a crude bomb near the Nilkhet police box around 7:30pm, leaving constable Siddique, 30, injured.

Siddique suffered wounds from cocktail splinters in his chest, said sources at the police camp at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).  

A rickshaw-puller was injured around the same time when a crude bomb went off near the Teacher-Student Centre (TSC) of Dhaka University.

Two youths -- Sonia, 15, and Pushpa Lipi, 16, -- were injured when pickets blasted a cocktail in front of Eden College in the capital's Azimpur around 7:00am.  The two received treatment at DMCH.

The 20-party combine has been enforcing hartals on all working days since February 1 on top of countrywide indefinite blockade since January 6, demanding a fresh national election under a non-partisan administration.

In Chittagong, at least six people were hurt as criminals blasted two crude bombs at the city's Teri Bazar intersection around 9:40pm, Uttam Barua, sub-inspector of Kotwali Police Station, told The Daily Star.

Among the injured, Ariful Islam, Abu Taher, Shafique and Real received treatment at Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

In Barguna, criminals set a room of Patharghata Municipality building on fire around 3:15am yesterday, leaving some important documents burnt.

Biplob Kumer Roy, inspector of the licensing unit at the municipality, said a general diary was filed with Patharghata Police Station in this connection.

Alleged pro-hartal pickets in Magura exploded nine crude bombs in the garage of the district fisheries office in Vina area of the town and torched a jeep there around 12:45am yesterday, said Sudarshan Kumar Roy, assistant superintendent of police in the district.

Quoting Firoj Hossain, a night guard at the office, the ASP said three youths ran away from the spot soon after the incident. Law enforcers were quizzing the guard for more information.

Also, law enforcers yesterday and Sunday night detained 11 BNP-Jamaat men in Sylhet, Mymensingh, Chittagong and Chapainawabganj.

Besides, the BGB recovered seven abandoned petrol bombs at Choto Kumira in Sitakunda upazila of Chittagong yesterday.

Our correspondents in Chittagong, Dinajpur, Patuakhali and Kushtia contributed to this report.