Police say they have arrested 18 activists of the Jamaat-e-Islami from a school run by executed war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami’s wife in Dhaka.
Nizami, hanged in May this year for 1971 war-time atrocities, was the chief of the party, which actively opposed Bangladesh’s independence.
Police said the arrests were made early Friday morning from the Islamic International School and College in Badda.
“A raid was conducted on a tip-off that a secret meeting of Jamaat leaders and activists was going on,” said Badda police OC MA Jalil.
He said those arrested included Jamaat’s Badda unit chief Fakhruddin Kefayatullah.
| Jamaat activists held from Dhaka school |
The school is housed in a six-storey building on Road 8 of the DIT Housing Project.
Fakhruddin lives on the top floor while the landlord, Belal Hossain, lives on the second floor. The other units are occupied for the school.
Nizami’s wife, Shamsun Nahar Nizami is the principal of the school, said OC Jalil.
Asked whether she has been detained, he said, “She is the principal, but was not there during the raid.”
Landlord Belal has been detained to check whether he had collected information about the tenants while renting out his property, added the police officer.
Police are yet to detail the charges against those arrested.
The OC told bdnews24.com later at night they were starting a case against them and 20 to 25 other unidentified persons on charges of plotting to topple the government through violence.
Jamaat activists, however, are named in several cases over violence unleashed across Bangladesh ahead of the 2014 general election.
After the recent spate of targeted killings and terror attacks, it emerged that many of the suspected Islamist militants have been involved with the party’s student affiliate, the Islami Chhatra Shibir.
After the arrests of five suspected Ansarullah Bangla Team operatives earlier this month in Chittagong, police had said that Shibir was involved in destabilising the country with the help of militant outfits.
Source: Bd news24