After remaining missing for five days, Anti-Discrimination Student Movement Coordinator Asif Mahmud and activist Abu Baker Majumdar were found blindfolded in Hatirjheel and Dhanmondi, respectively.
Both alleged that they were confined in a room and pressured to issue statements to halt the student-led movement.
The government temporarily relaxed the nationwide curfew, allowing limited mobility and operations from 10am to 5pm.
Government offices reopened, while banks and financial institutions resumed services on a restricted scale following a three-day closure.
Long queues formed nationwide as people sought to withdraw cash and pay utility bills.
Services related to import, export, and remittance also resumed. Banks operated from 11am to 3pm, while the stock market reopened from 11am to 2pm.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Hasina met with editors and media heads at a session hosted by the Editors’ Guild, accusing BNP-Jamaat of attempting to destabilize the economy through orchestrated violence.
“One day the quota-reform movement activists have to answer to the nation: why they gave such opportunity to them (BNP-Jamaat) for causing such ruins to the country,” she said.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir claimed that 2,000 opposition leaders and activists were detained following unrest centering the quota protest.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan pledged to use the full strength of the state to identify and prosecute those responsible for the violence.
Additional Inspector General (Operations) Md Anwar Hossain said that a list is being compiled including attackers, masterminds, instigators, and funders - many of whom are politically affiliated.
He added that the nationwide arrests are being carried out based on verified intelligence.
On the digital front, broadband internet was restored on a trial basis, though mobile data remained suspended.
State Minister for Telecom and ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak noted that platforms such as Facebook and YouTube have failed to comply with Bangladesh’s regulations.
