Manikganj BNP leader kept waiting at checkpoint for more than 7 hours

Manikganj district BNP's Senior Vice-President Ataur Rahman Ata has been kept waiting for seven hours at a checkpoint in Aminbazar.

Local BNP leaders told our Savar correspondent that other than Ata, several other BNP leaders and activists -- on their way to the party's rally in the capital's Nayapaltan -- were stopped or detained at the checkpoints.

Ata said he reached the checkpoint around 10:00am when police stopped him on the Dhaka-bound lane in Aminbazar.

Our Savar correspondent visited the area from 10:30am to 2:00pm today, and found Ata's car stopped near the checkpoint, with the BNP leader waiting inside.

Dipok Chandra Saha, officer-in-charge (OC) of Savar Model Police Station, told our correspondent around 5:00pm that they had not decided till then whether to let Ata go.

When asked why Ata was detained, the OC declined to comment.

Ata, also former chairman of Manikganj Sadar Upazila Parishad, said, "I was going to the Dhaka airport with my three relatives from Manikganj. From there I was supposed to join the rally, and they [the three relatives] would return home after receiving another relative at the airport. But all of us have been detained at the Aminbazar checkpoint. Our microbus has also been seized.

"I am on bail in all the cases filed against me. The police are not even saying why I've been detained," he said.

Asked, Abdullahil Kafi, assistant superintendent of police (crime and operations) in Dhaka, said several people were detained from checkpoints on various charges. He however did not disclose the exact number of detainees and their names.

Police were seen conducting searches of different vehicles since this morning at Aminbazar checkpoint on the Dhaka-bound lane of the Dhaka-Aricha highway in front of Aminbazar Government 20-bed Hospital.

The law enforcers were seen interrogating and searching passengers after stopping buses, microbuses, private cars and motorcycles there.

OC Dipok Chandra said, "We set up checkpoints as part of our regular operation."

The OC said in the morning, a microbus used for transporting "newspapers" was stopped at a checkpoint and 64 bottles of Phensedyl were recovered from inside. Two persons were detained in this connection, he added.

"Legal action is underway against the two," he said.

According to locals, there was traffic congestion on the lane due to the checkpoints around 8:00am, but after some time it returned to normal.

Rezaul Karim Reza, personal secretary of Manikganj district BNP President Afroza Khan Rita, alleged that 15 buses carrying BNP supporters were seized at Islampur checkpoint at Dhamrai.

But he could not say about the whereabouts of the BNP supporters who were on the buses.

Contacted, Dhamrai Officer-in-Charge Harun Or Rashid said, "The buses might not have had legal documents."

When asked about detention of BNP supporters, he said the allegation was not true.