The 48-hour countrywide hartal, enforced by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, is progressing on the second day today (Thursday) amid stray incidents of violence that left two people dead in Meherpur and Sirajganj districts.
In Meherpur, a Jamaat-e-Islami activist was shot dead and 15 others, including 10 policemen, were injured in a clash with police at Gaurinagar village in Mujibnagar upazila. The deceased was identified as Delwar Hossain, 50, a resident of Gaurinagar village of the upazila.
Witnesses said police swung into action firing rubber bullets at about 8 am when the Jamaat men threw brick chips from their pro-hartal procession at the law enforcers, triggering a clash. The police fired gunshots as the activists of the Islamist party turned violent, leaving 16 people, including cops, injured.
Among the injured, Delwar succumbed to his injuries on the way to Rajshahi Islami Bank Hospital. The unruly Jamaat activists also torched a police pick-up during the mayhem.
In Sirjaganj, a young man, Masud Hossain, 35, son of Mukul Khandakar of Bhuiyangati village in Raiganj upazila, was killed and four people were injured as Jamaat-Shibir activists attacked a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at Shialkhol in Sadar upazila in the afternoon.
Police said a group of activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir attacked the three-wheeler in the area around 3:30pm, leaving five people injured.
Of the injured, Masud was rushed to Sadar Hospital where doctors declared him dead.
Incidents of chase and counter-chase and explosion of crude bombs are also reported from different parts of capital Dhaka, although members of police and other law-enforcing agencies remain deployed in large numbers on the streets.
Slow-moving rickshaws are dominating the city streets as on other hartal days, while a good number of motorised vehicles are plying the roads.
At Sobhanbagh, Jamaat-Shibir activists from a procession blasted a crude bomb around 7:40am. Later, police dispersed them through a hot chase.
About 25 Jamaat-Shibir activists brought out a procession in support of the shutdown in Kajla area of Jatrabari around 7:30am. A chase and counter-chase occurred when police tried to drive them away.
Sporadic incidents of chase and counter-chase between hartal supporters and police also took place in Azimpur, Moghbazar and Shajadpur areas in the morning as the law enforcers tried to disperse their processions.
Sporadic incidents of violence are also reported from elsewhere in the country.
In Gazipur, hartal supporters torched a bus in Bhogra Bypass area. Police said a group of 10-12 hartal supporters attacked the bus of VIP-27 Paribahan around 7:45am and fled the scene after setting it afire. Later, police doused the flame with the help of locals.
Meanwhile, police filed a case accusing local 35 Jamaat men, including 11 named ones, of setting fire to a bus on Wednesday night. Police also arrested one person in this connection.
In Sylhet, two policemen were injured in an attack by Shibir men in the city’s Subidbazar area.
Shibir activists brought out a sudden procession at 6.30 am from the Subidbazar area in support of the hartal and tried to block Sylhet-Sunamganj road. They swooped on a patrol team of police when it was approaching towards the procession.
The activists hurled brick chips on police and vandalised a police vehicle.
Jamaat activists brought out a bike procession in Sobhanighat area of the city in support of the general strike around 8.00 pm. The hartal supporters vandalised a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at Dhopadighi and a private car at Ambarkhana of the city.
In Barisal, Jamaat-Shibir activists torched three busses at City bus service depot at C&B Road.
Police said Jamaat-Shibir activists brought out a procession in the area around 6am, and torched three vehicles in the depot.
On information, police rushed in and fired eight rubber bullets to control the situation, injuring Jafar, 22, a Shibir activist. Police later arrested him.
Police arrested two more Shibir men — Rejaul, 22, and Sanaullah, 22. All the three Shibir activists are students of Barisal BM College. Later, a mobile court awarded them two years imprisonment each.
Meanwhile, a clash took place between police and Shibir men at Banaripara upazila when the law enforcers tried to disperse a procession of Shibir men around 12 pm, injuring three cops. Police also arrested five Shibir activists from the spot.
In Rajshahi, Shibir activists tried to block Seroil Road by pouring petrol on the street and hurled crude bombs at a BGB vehicle.
In Bogra, police detained seven people, including nayeb-e-ameer of Jamaat of Sherpur upazila and upazila vice-chairman Abdul Halim in the morning on charge of torching a vehicle.
Officer-in-Charge of Sherpur thana Aminul Islam said Jamaat-Shibir activists torched a truck loaded with fertiliser on the first day (Wednesday) of the hartal.
In Laxmipur, Jamaat-Shibir activists have blocked Laxmipur-Ramgoti roads and Raipur-Dhaka highway by putting logs and burning tyres in the morning.
In Bagherhat, police detained seven Islami Chhatra Shibir activists for vandalism during the hartal hours in the morning.
The first day of the shutdown was also marked by the killing of an auto-rickshaw driver, stray incidents of vandalism, bomb blasts and clashes across the country on Wednesday.
On that day, at least 35 vehicles were damaged, 40 crude bombs blasted and 30 people injured across the country. Police also arrested over 50 Jamaat-Shibir men.
The shutdown, called by the Islamist party demanding the release of its top leaders and protesting the death sentence to its assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Mollah, will continue till 6.00am Friday.
Granting the government’s appeal seeking death penalty to Quader Mollah, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that the Jamaat leader be hanged for his crimes against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971.
Source: UNBConnect
