Law enforcers in a raid yesterday seized bomb-making materials from a high-rise building at Paltan that houses the city unit of Jamaat-e-Islami and the headquarters of its students’ wing Islami Chhatra Shibir.
Morshed Alam, officer-in-charge of Paltan police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that they had raided the 14-storey building on information around 1pm. The building is owned by Chhatra Shibir.
Police recovered explosives circuits that would be needed to make around 20 crude bombs (popularly known as cocktails); and also leaflets, posters, banner and list of activists during the drive. No leaders and activists were present at that time.
In separate statements, Jamaat acting secretary general Shafiqur Rahman and Chhatra Shibir President Abdul Zabbar condemned the incident saying that the police had vandalised their offices in the name of raid and seized seven bags of publications.
The leaders claimed that they had not been allowed to enter the building for the last few years.
The raid comes a day after the investigation agency of the International Crimes Tribunal disclosed its probe report on Jamaat’s war crimes in 1971. The report recommends that the tribunal bans Jamaat and Chhatra Shibir; Jamaat mouthpiece the daily Sangram be closed; property of the party, its associates and other organisations be confiscated; and compensation is realised for the 1971 atrocities.
