Little Maysha's long wait in vain

A seven-year-old Maysha was waiting to see her 45-year-old uncle Rakibul Haque Sarker in front of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Dhaka.

A former joint-convener of the Swechchhasebak Dal's Mugda thana unit, Rakibul was arrested last night right outside his home in the capital's Mughda Biswaroad Singer Goli.

At 12:30pm, Maysha, second-grader at a school, along with her father Mohim Khan and another uncle, arrived at the court.

At 3:30pm, when this correspondent met her, she still couldn't meet her uncle.

Rakibul was brought before the court around that time.

She was holding a water bottle in her right hand to give it to her uncle and was seen waiting at the court premises till 5:00pm.

She told The Daily Star at the court premises this afternoon, "I came to the court to see my uncle because he loves me very much."

Mohim said, "When we started for the court, she said she would go with us. I don't know if Maysha can meet her uncle or not," he added.

Similar to Maysha, many people gathered at the court premises to see their kin and relatives who had been arrested yesterday throughout the capital. A portion of those arrested were not active in BNP politics.

At 10:30pm last night, Iqbal Hossain, a ward-level leader under the New Market thana, was arrested from the Kamrangirchar area.

His sister Nasrin told The Daily star, "Police arrested my brother from my house."

Iqbal, 30, resides in the Bata Masjid area of Azimpur with his family.

Meanwhile, in search of Alam, his son Ashraful Islam visited the court with his mother and grandmother.

Alam, a businessman of Wari, was also arrested from his shop last night.

"Police arrested my father even though he has no political affiliations. We haven't met him yet," said Ashraful, who assists his father in his business.

His mother did not talk to the media fearing further trap by police. Even, they refused to disclose their address to this newspaper.

Another woman, aged 24, who arrived at the court to look for her younger brother was spotted by our correspondent.

Hailing from the Chairmanbari locality in Hatirjheel, she expressed, "My brother is a college student. Last night, I told him to go buy some food. Around 8:00pm, when he left, police arrested him from Ambagan in Hatirjheel area."

Records from the court show that between October 18 and October 21, police brought about 394 persons before the CMM Court in relation to cases that were filed at different DMP police stations. Moreover, about 205 more people were produced before the same court in some 40 cases today and today.