The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has at least 10,091 of its leaders and activists arrested till Friday in the last two weeks as the police and its specialised unit Rapid Action Battalion, among others, have intensified raids since October 28.
The police headquarters have yet to formally publish any number of its arrests of the opposition politicians but a deputy inspector general posted in Dhaka estimated the number of arrest at around 10,000.
The police headquarters deputy inspector general (operations) Md Anwar Hossain, however, told New Age that they were not arresting any political activists, rather those who have committed any criminal incidents.
He declined to share the number of arrests of the opposition leaders and activists in last two weeks.
The RAB headquarters on Friday stated that they had arrested a total 324 people since October 28 in connection with attacks and ‘sabotages’.
The police mostly in plainclothes have continued with their raids, while the Rapid Action Battalion also in separate raids are making arrests of the politicians named and other unnamed suspects in the cases filed following the violence in Dhaka on October 28 during BNP grand rally calling for the resignation of the Awami League-led government and general elections under a non-party government.
The BNP and other opposition parties have been continuing with their protests with a nationwide strike and three phases of blockades ended on Thursday, while calling for another 48-hour countrywide blockade of road, rail and waterways from 6:00am Sunday to 6:00am Tuesday.
With the fresh blockade announced, Dhaka Metropolitan Police additional commissioner (crime and operations) Kh Mahid Uddin urged the political parties not to destroy public property, saying that 64 vehicles have been torched since October 28 with 12 suspects arrested and one driver’s assistant has been killed in Demra.
Apart from the BNP, opposition party Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leaders also said their 1,977 leaders and activists were arrested between October 25 and November 9.
The RAB has started its operations against political demonstrators and joining raids with the local police teams, particularly in the night-time raids to arrest politicians after a long break since the United States imposed sanctions on the elite force in December 2021.
The US government on December 10, 2021 imposed sanctions on the RAB and seven of its serving and former officials over grave human rights violations.
Following the sanctions, the RAB’s involvement in conducting operations on political leaders and activists had visibly reduced.
Following the October 28 violence that foiled the grand rally called by the BNP, RAB’s involvement in raids to arrest opposition leaders and activists and deployment of its members during the opposition parties’ programmes is becoming increasingly visible.
In the recent days, the battalion has deployed a total 460 patrol teams across the country, including 160 alone in Dhaka city.
When asked for comments, RAB legal and media wing director Commander Khandaker Al Moin said that they have been arresting only suspected arsonists and criminals after reviewing the CCTV footage.
Rights activist Mohammad Nur Khan said that it has come into their notice that the use of the RAB to counter political opponents has started again after a long break.
In a virtual briefing, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Friday said that 10,091 leaders and activists of their party have been arrested so far in the ongoing crackdowns.
He said Cox’s Bazar Swechchhasebak Dal unit joint-secretary Soliman Badsha and his brother Selim, who were detained but not produced in the court over 48 hours, were sent to a nearby police station.
He alleged that the police have been terrorising and harassing the family members of the BNP leaders and activists, while some of them cannot be traced after being picked up by law enforcers.
As of Thursday, DMP data show that the number of cases against BNP leaders and activists in connection with violence since October 28 reached 119 in the capital with over 2,000 people named in these cases along with several thousand unnamed people.
The DMP also arrested 2,407 BNP activists from October 21 until Thursday morning in violence cases.-New Age
