Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Police free highways from ‘obstacles’


BANGLADESH NEWS
However, after Tuesday’s shutdown enforced by BNP, Jamaat’s key ally, ended in the evening, vehicles, large and small, were running on the highways across the country.

During its latest mayhem, Jamaat activists mainly targeted Bangladesh’s road communication system, which was apparent from the way they blocked the highways, uprooted rail tracks, set them on fire along with the train coaches.

Road communications through highways leading to Satkhira, Gaibandha, Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Chapainawabganj, Bogra and Joypurhat were closed in the past few days due to three consecutive days of strike by Jamaat and BNP.

Transferring patients from across the country to Dhaka was also impossible as the highways were blockaded. Several patients also died on the road.

Supplies of daily essential commodities were also stranded.

The country survived three days of shutdowns as Jamaat had called a 48-hours nationwide shutdown on Sunday and Monday and BNP on Tuesday.

Police cleared the roads after Tuesday’s shutdown ended while reports from different districts saying the highway communications were back up.
On Tuesday evening, Additional Superintendent of Cox’s Bazar district (ASP) Babul Akter told  that there were no barricades on highways in the district. “Vehicles are leaving for different destinations since afternoon.”

Several thousand tourists were also stranded in Cox’s Bazar over the past several days thanks to the violent spree and back-to-back shutdowns.

The road was blockaded at Satkania’s Keranihat on the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar highway. ASP Akter said, “The last barricade was at Satkania. There’s no problem in the area now.”

The district administrations had managed to send at least 250 tourists to their destinations from Cox’s Bazar by air and waterways two days ago while 500 more were still stuck there.

However, Akter said over 100 buses of transport companies will leave the resort town on Tuesday night. “These buses will start leaving from 9pm and will be given police protection. Police patrols on the highways will also continue.”

Superintendent of Chittagong Police KM Hafiz also said that there were no disruptions in vehicular movement in his city.

“The last barricade on the city roads was removed earlier on Tuesday morning. The flow of traffic is normal now,” he added.

Local police officials at northern part of the country also saidthere were no more barricades on the highways.

Superintendent of Police of Bogra district Mohammad Mozammel Haque told  that they had removed all obstacles from the roads in the morning.

Satkhira SP Mohammad Asaduzzaman also said vehicular movements in his district were normal. Top police officials from Chapainawabganj and Gaibandha also conveyed similar messages.

Transport owners had earlier said they would resume operations from Tuesday evening.

Manager of Hanif Paribahan, Bolai Chandra Das told that their buses were leaving according to the schedule since the evening.

Along with the road communications, Jamaat and Shibir activists had tried to completely shut off the railway communications but they did not fully succeed.

However, there were one incident of a train derailment and several accounts of setback in the scheduled departure of the trains.

Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir on Tuesday told Parliament that 67 people, including seven policemen, were killed until Monday after the mayhem started on Feb 28.

According to police, 10 people killed during the clashes in Bogra alone. Apart from them, nine were killed in Satkhira, six each in Joypurhat and Thakurgaon and five in Chittagong.

Three people were killed each in Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi, Sirajganj and Rangpur districts while two each were killed in Noakhali and Cox’s Bazar.

The Hindu minority was also not spared by the Jamaat mob who attacked their residences and temples.

The BNP had enforced a country-wide shutdown on Tuesday protesting against the ‘mass killings’ during the clashes. The main opposition alleged the deaths were results of ‘police atrocities’.

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