Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Thursday instructed her party activists to remain alert against any potential “atrocities,” and asked them to retaliate if they were faced with attacks.
She feared that such activities would highly jeopardise the political stability in the country.
The AL chief asked her party activists to attend the Jumma prayers today and stay prepared to lead a counter-attack if the opposition harmed any Awami League activists.
She made the comments at a meeting held with presidents and general secretaries of the party and its associate bodies at her office in the parliament last night, sources confirmed.
The premier assured the leaders of her party’s front organisations that her government and the law enforcement agencies would take every necessary step to foil any evil venture of the opposition.
Meanwhile, Dhaka unit of the ruling Awami League called off its pre-announced rally for today, and directed its leaders and activists to remain vigilant on the streets to tackle any kind of unrest by opposition activists.
The activists would take position near 65 mosques and madrasas across the capital marked as “risky” by the city unit, as they suspect that the Jamaat-Shibir men would gather at these spots to chalk out conspiracies and to carry out subversive activities. They would maintain strong surveillance at the areas after Jumma prayers.
As per the list prepared by the unit, out of the 65 mosques and Madrassas marked as “risky”, 15 are located in Rampura, six in Ramna, five in Motijheel, nine in Paltan, six in Dhanmondi, six in Uttra (East), 10 in Uttra (West), and eight in the Jatrabari area.
The call came from an extended meeting of the unit held at the Bangabandhu Avenue on Thursday with acting president of AL’s Dhaka city unit MA Aziz in the chair.
The AL leaders and activists would start gathering at the party’s central office in the capital’s Bangabandhu Avenue from morning today, sources said.
Ruling Awami League called off their rally, moments after Dhaka Metropolitan Police granted conditional permission to BNP for holding their rally on the same day.
Awami League Dhaka unit Organising Secretary Shahey Alam Murad told the Dhaka Tribune on Thursday that the move was made out of “respect for law.”
He said Awami League had sought permission for three locations Suhrawardy Uddyan, Paltan Maidan and Bangabandhu Avenue to hold its rally today.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police granted conditional permission to BNP for holding their rally in the capital’s Suhrawardy Uddyan; however, AL did not get the permission, according to sources.
“We will not hold the rally showing respect to the law, but we will stay alert on the streets,” said Shahey Alam Murad.
Awami League Dhaka unit General Secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya asked the leaders and activists to handover any suspicious person found roaming in their localities to the police.
“The BNP-Jamaat’s bid to create anarchy should be resisted by extending our support and cooperation to the law enforcing agencies,” he said.
In the meeting, AL Joint General Secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak said they had prior information that Jamaat-Shibir men might carry out subversive activities to create mayhem across the capital today.
He called upon the party-men to take to the streets to foil their arrangement to create any untoward situation.
