The joint forces, comprising of police, Rab and the BGB, are allegedly harassing and arresting large numbers of innocent people alongside opposition leaders and activists in different parts of the country during their special drives against criminals as part of security measures taken ahead of the January 5 general elections.
During a visit to the Dhaka lower court yesterday, this correspondent found large number victims who were presented before the court by police after arresting them on Friday night.
Family members of those victims were also waiting at the court premises for their bails. The joint forces arrested Firoz Khan Liton, 45, and Aziz Khan Bablu, 42, two brothers from Savar, and presented them before the Dhaka District Magistrate Court yesterday.
Khairul, cousin of the two brothers, told the Dhaka Tribune: “The joint forces raided their house at Friday midnight to arrest the victims’ younger brother Asaduzzaman Mohon, 28. Mohon is the president of Ashulia thana unit BNP.”
Liton and Bablu were innocent, Khairul claimed, and alleged that the law enforcers threatened their family members and carried out vandalism during the raid. After investigating into the incident, this correspondent found that Khairul’s claims are true.
Locals told the correspondent that the two brothers had no political connection. A woman, seeking anonymity, said the police arrested her son, who is a bus conductor, and one of his colleagues without any reason while they were returning home Friday night.
She did not disclose her son’s name fearing that if his name was published in the newspaper, police would not release him from.
Meanwhile, law enforcers arrested Rubayet Khaim, owner of Aziz Motors at Purana Paltan, and all his sons and employees during Friday’s clash between law enforcers and banned Islamic outfit Hizb-ut Tahrir.
The victim’s family members and witnesses said police shot at Rubayet’s house that left one of his sons injured, adding that the law enforcers also stormed the showroom on the first floor and his house at the second floor.
However, Paltan police released them all at 10pm that night, Rabbi Ahmed Tushar, nephew of Rubayet, told the Dhaka Tribune. Locals said the victims had no involvement with any political parties, adding that they go for Tabligh.
The opposition, meanwhile, alleged that the government was harassing, repressing and arresting opposition leaders and activists in the name drives by joint forces only to foil the 18-party’s ongoing movement.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
