Nearly two weeks after the virtual siege, the barricades in front of opposition leader Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan residence have been removed and the additional law enforcers deployed there also pulled out.
No restriction on traffic in front of Khaleda’s house was found on Wednesday morning as the law enforcers removed their barricades with withdrawal of the additional law enforcers from there.
Earlier on Tuesday night, the law enforcers removed the barricade on the road when the Canadian High Commissioner in Bangladesh went to meet the opposition leader.
About the withdrawal of additional police, Gulshan zone assistant police commissioner Nurul Alam told UNB that as per the current situation it seems that the opposition leader does not require additional security. “So, the additional security police forces have been pulled out from there.”
He, however, said they will take additional security measure again whenever it will require.
The law enforcers earlier removed five sand-laden trucks parked on two sides of the road in front of the opposition leader’s residence.
In the wake of the opposition’s announcement of staging a rally of March for Democracy programme at Nayapaltan on December 29 with the presence of the opposition leader, additional police had been deployed around Khaleda Zia’s residence on December 26.
Police had also created barricades on two sides of the road in front of the opposition leader’s residence and reportedly kept her confined to the house, restricting her movement outside of it. However, the government had been denying the allegation of confining her saying it was done as part of ensuring Khaleda’s security.
The government allegedly did not allow Khaleda join the opposition’s programme on December 29 and 30 and came out of her house since the additional security has been taken around it.
Khaleda herself also claimed that she has apparently been kept under house arrest and her party leaders and activists were not allowed to meet her, an allegation rejected by the Prime Minister.
Source: UNB Connect