In the face of rising political turmoil, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police has adopted a new technique to keep under control the law and order in the capital – arresting the leaders and activists of the opposition parties.
The specialised operation titled “Dhoro” (catch) was initiated on Saturday so that the members of the opposition parties, especially the BNP and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami, cannot take control over the city streets.
The government had instructed the police to remain on high alert while asked the party supporters to remain on the streets to foil any move by the opposition activists centring the January 5 rally, sources in the DMP said.
As part of the special security measure, the officials of 49 police stations and the Detective Branch are making lists of BNP-Jamaat leaders, mainly those who are already accused in different cases but remain fugitive, under their police station area and conducting drives to arrest them.
The detectives are also monitoring the activities of opposition supporters on Facebook.
In the crackdown since Saturday, around 200 leaders and supporters of the BNP and Jamaat were arrested in the capital. Later they were placed before different courts and sent to jail in cases of violence and vandalism.
DMP sources said the drive would continue until all the listed persons were put in jail.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been cordoned off at her Gulshan Office since Saturday while party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was arrested by the DB police yesterday.
The police earlier arrested several top leaders of the BNP including Goyeshwar Chandra Roy and Moazzem Hossain Alal.
Detectives yesterday arrested private television channel ETV Chairman Abdus Salam reportedly for airing the speeches of BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman, now in the UK, for a long time. He was, however, shown arrested in a pornography case filed earlier against a reporter of the channel and three others.
The police have also conducted drives in the houses of Mirza Abbas, Khairul Kabir Khokon, SA Khaleque, Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel, and several leaders of BNP’s youth and student wings.
A senior DB official who is also a member of the “Dhoro” drive, requesting anonymity, said they had failed to arrest most of the listed leaders since they went into hiding.
“No one is staying at their houses at night. However, we are keeping eye on their activities,” the official said.
Detectives say since a number of 20-party activists came to the capital ahead of their January 5 rally, the police also raided rest houses and residential hotels.
A source in the DB police told the Dhaka Tribune that the detectives were tracking the phone calls of senior opposition leaders as well as the police members so that they cannot pass information to the opposition men before a drive.
Before the 10th parliamentary election, members of the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance were able to take control of most of the districts, except for the capital. However, they failed in the capital because of strong vigilance of the law enforcers, the police say.
Asked about the drive, Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of the DB, said it was their duty to ensure security of all the citizens.
“The law enforcers are ready to take any kind of initiative to stand against all violent activities,” Monirul, also spokesperson of the DMP commissioner, told the Dhaka Tribune.