Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir on Monday said the government would quickly ensure the punishment of those who killed Bishwajit Das during Sunday’s blockade in the city.
“We’ll investigate the incident, scrutinise the evidence we’ve and ensure the punishment,” he told reporters after a seminar at the National Press Club in the city.
The 24-year-old was killed in an attack by a group of Bangladesh Chhatra League activists, who mistook him for a pro-blockade activist.
About setting vehicles on fire during the blockade, the home minister said, “Set your own vehicles on fire first instead of torching others while staging protests and demonstrations.”
He said the public has the right to catch the troublemakers and hand them over to police who are setting public’s vehicles on fire, ruining their businesses and causing sufferings to the common people.
On trial of the war criminals, Mohiuddin said the government has initiated the trial of war criminals and urged the people of the country to remain alert against those trying to thwart it.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Benazir Ahmed said police are these days exercising their less force compared to that in the past.
He said the police did not use any lethal weapons or opened fire in Dhaka city over the last 20 years but lobbed rubber bullets to control the situation.
Benazir also said police are being assaulted inhumanly using political shelter.
The BNP-led 18-party alliance on Sunday staged the countrywide eight-hour road blockade amid sporadic clashes, arson attacks and arrests leaving at least three people dead.
Of the three victims, two were killed in capital Dhaka and one in Sirajganj during the tough protest programme.
Some 380 people, including cops, were injured in clashes, attacks and police actions, while 249 arrested across the country during the blockade programme.
Source: The Daily Star
