Apparently rejecting the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner’s version of Sunday night’s crackdown on Hefazat activists, opposition BNP claimed on Wednesday that people could not place their faith in it.
“I’m not sure whether what [DMP, BGB and Rab officials] said [on Wednesday] about that day’s drive was their own words… or imposed by government high-ups. But I can say the country’s people don’t believe it and couldn’t take it into confidence,” said BNP chairperson’s adviser Shamsuzzaman Dudu
He stated his party’s reaction to the remarks by top officials of law enforcement agencies about the Motijheel drive, reports UNB, while addressing a press briefing about the 18-party’s hartal at BNP’s Nayaplatan central office.
Earlier in the day, dismissing the allegation of mass killing and concealing bodies, DMP Commissioner Benazir Ahmed said there was no incident of killing during the operation at Shapla Chattar in the city since no lethal weapons were used by the members of the law enforcement agencies.
Col Yahya Azam, Dhaka sector commander of BGB, Lt Col Zia, director (intelligence) of Rab were present at the press conference, among others.
Dudu, who is acting as the BNP spokesman, sought an explanation from the government over the drive through a press note.
“We want to know: how many people were killed on that day; the number of police, Rab and BGB members that took part in the operation; the number of bullets, types of arms and armoured vehicles used; and the reason for conducting the operation in the darkness of night,” he said.
When his attention was drawn to Awami League joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif’s claim that there had been no casualty during the drive, the BNP leader said his party could not take Hanif’s remarks seriously. They demand an official version from the government.
The BNP chairperson's adviser said the daylong hartal was observed across the country with people’s spontaneous participation.
He claimed that police arrested over 107 opposition activists across the country during the hartal hours on Wednesday, while more than 211 were injured in attacks by law enforcers and “ruling party cadres.” An activist was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment by a mobile court, he added.
Dudu also claimed that at least 15 opposition leaders and activists have been killed by law enforcers and the ruling party cadres at different parts of the country since Monday.
The BNP-led 18-party alliance enforced the daylong countrywide hartal for Wednesday and Thursday, protesting the killing of unarmed alems (Islamic scholars) in Sunday night’s crackdown on the Hefazat-e-Islami sit-in at Shapla Chattar.
