Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Saturday said that three quota protest coordinators have been taken into custody to ensure their safety and identify those threatening them.
“We need to interrogate them. We will decide on the next steps after the interrogation, “said the minister while visiting vandalized government offices in Narayanganj.
“One of the coordinators called his father and said that he went into hiding and he asked his father not to share with anyone about his whereabouts. When we get such news on social media, we took them info safe custody.”
“We are interrogating them, who are trying to attack them. A decision will be taken about them after questioning them,” said the minister.
Pointing out that the quota movement protesters are not controlled by themselves, the minister said: “We thought that the students would immediately welcome the quota reformation and withdraw their agitation and go back to the educational institutions. But we sadly observe that they did not do that. Because they are not controlled by them. This has been proven by the destruction spree in the last few days.”
He said that a vested quarter is spreading rumors on social media about the quota reform movement.
"Such rumors are being spread , by which common people are getting confused.”
He called upon the journalist to save the countrymen from rumours.
“They are carrying out attacks along with spreading rumours. Such a concerted attack can only be undertaken by dedicated forces. Jamaat-BNP and militant groups are behind the attacks. We are getting evidence that it is their organized movement and attack. The police force dealt with them with great patience,” said Asaduzzaman.
They have used the protesting students as their shield, said the minister.
He further said that government will overcome this situation very soon. Some incidents have occurred because students were misled and there have been orchestrated killings.
The home minister stated that the attackers' primary anger was directed towards the police and the Awami League.
He said that when RAB, Police, and BGB were unable to control the situation, they requested the army's assistance as per the prime minister's direction to restore peace.
Addressing the newly raised demands by the students, the minister said the prime minister acknowledged their logical demands and assured they would be gradually accepted.
"However, the students did not give the opportunity for this process to unfold," he added.
Earlier , Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Harunor Rashid said that three coordinators of the anti-discrimination student movement, including Nahid Islam, have been taken into custody for their own safety.
DB officials took Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Baker Majumder into their custody from the capital's Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital on Friday afternoon.
Earlier, Nahid Islam’s father, Badrul Alam, and several witnesses told Dhaka Tribune that some plainclothes individuals from law enforcement agencies picked up Nahid and Asif from Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital around 4pm on Friday.
“Some people in plain clothes from the country’s law enforcement agencies picked up them from the hospital. The hospital has been barricaded by law enforcement since the morning,” Badrul Alam said.
Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud had earlier alleged that they were abducted and tortured.