Key BNP leaders among 300 held

In a major crackdown police yesterday detained over 300 BNP leaders and activists, including six central leaders, following a clash in front of the party's Nayapaltan headquarters.

All of them were detained from near their party headquarters following a clash around 3:00pm between police and BNP men, that left one dead and over 30 injured.

The detained leaders included BNP's senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed; and Amanullah Aman and Abdus Salam, conveners of BNP's Dhaka city south and north units respectively, who are key organisers of the much-hyped rally.

BNP's Joint Secretary General Khairul Kabir Khokon, Publication Secretary Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie, and Shimul Biswas, personal special assistant of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia were also among those detained.

After the raid of the BNP office following the clash, Harun or Rashid, Dhaka Metropolitan Police additional commissioner (detective branch), told journalists that they detained over 300 people who were responsible for exploding bombs, vandalism and attacking police.

Many of the detainees were accused in different cases and there are arrest warrants against them, he said, adding after verification police will file cases against the detainees.

He said police seized 15 cocktails from the BNP party office and found over Tk 2 lakh, 160 sacks of rice, over two lakh water bottles and prepared khichuri.

When asked, he dismissed BNP's claim that police took the bombs to the party office.

Harun said there was an ill motive behind BNP men blocking the road in front of the party headquarters in the afternoon. When police asked them to clear the road, they attacked law enforcers, blasted hundreds of cocktails and went on a spree of vandalism which ultimately led to a chase and counter chase.

Party leaders said they saw Rizvi picked up by law enforcers in front of the party office around 5:20pm and taken away in a prison van.

After Rizvi's detention, police picked up Aman, Salam and Khokon from there, party sources said.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir took position in front of the party office around 4:30pm.

Talking to reporters later, he said law enforcers picked up more than 200 party leaders and activists from the spot.

He said the clash at Nayapaltan area is part of a conspiracy to foil the scheduled rally on December 10.

"This incident is to foil the rally. This is a conspiracy," Fakhrul told reporters around 4:30pm.

He demanded that authorities withdraw the police force deployed in Nayapaltan so that they can hold the rally peacefully.

Biplob Kumar Sarkar, joint commissioner (operations) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said they have arrested many "criminals" and those who have been "instigating the criminals".

He said they stayed there to deal with the overall situation with great patience and they were repeatedly provoked.

"When we are attacked, when people's lives are threatened, common people are attacked, we were forced to conduct operations … They even threw bombs from the second floor of their office," he said.

"Many bombs were kept there for carrying out subversive activities. We recovered those."

Asked about Fakhrul's allegation that police brought bombs in bags, he said the operation was carried out before everyone's eyes and police recovered bombs and sticks, he added.

"We do not understand senior-junior leaders … those who committed terrorism, instigated terrorism, have been detained and legal action will be taken against them."