Sporadic violence in Dhaka

Pickets vandalising a vehicle in the capital, Dhaka, on Thursday as Islami Chhatra Shibir enforced a daylong shutdown across the country. Photo: TV grab.

Pro-hartal activists torched and vandalised vehicles at different parts of the capital during Thursday's daylong hartal across the country on Thursday.

Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, enforced the hartal protesting the “torture on its detained president Delwar Hossain in police remand”.

During the hartal, police rounded up 13 Shibir men from Mohakhali and Mirpur areas while the hartal supporters brought out brisk processions at Jatrabari, Mirpur and Old Dhaka.

The Shibir activists set fire to a bus and five human haulers in Jatrabari areas.

Rickshaws and auto-rickshaws were seen in good numbers on the city streets while the presence of public transport was relatively higher than other recent hartals.

The presence of private cars on the city thoroughfares however was thin.

Three districts of Chittagong Hill Tracts — Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban —— have been exempted from the purview of the hartal to celebrate Boishabi, a traditional festival of indigenous people welcoming the New Year.

MOHAKHALI

Police rounded up 11 Shibir activists along with petrol and several homemade bombs when they were trying to set fire to vehicles in Mohakhali area, said Bhuiyan Mahbub Hassan, officer-in-charge (OC) of Banani Police Station.

MIRPUR

Police dispersed a procession of Shibir in Mirpur-6 area and picked up two party men from the spot, said Abdul Latif Sheikh, OC of Pallabi Police Station.

JATRABARI

Shibir activists came in procession and torched a bus at Jatrabari around 6:30am. Three passengers of the bus sustained minor injuries while getting down from the burning bus hurriedly.

The Shibir men torched a human hauler and vandalised another at Bibirbagicha in Uattar Jatrabari area.

OLD DHAKA

Around 30 Shibir men brought out a brisk procession near Jagannath University around 6:15am and set fire to four human haulers. One of the vehicles was torched completely while three others were partly damaged.

BACKGROUND

Shibir President Delwar Hossain was arrested on March 31 in the capital's Shyamoli for his alleged involvement in assaulting police and blasting cocktails on Mirpur Road of the capital on February 28. Delwar was placed on a 14-day remand on the following day.

The country lurches into a spell of hartals amid a further blow to the economy, education and life of people as the BNP-Jamaat-led 18-party opposition ended its 36-hour countrywide hartal Wednesday evening in protest of sending its eight leaders to jail.