Bangladesh police standing guard during a nationwide strike called by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led alliance in Dhaka yesterday.
AFP/Dhaka
Bangladesh security forces have arrested more than 7,000 opposition activists since the start of deadly protests a fortnight ago, the government said yesterday.
Activists have firebombed buses, cars and lorries, killing 29 people, since the opposition called a nationwide transport blockade to protest the detention of their leader Khaleda Zia.
Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu told reporters after chairing cabinet meeting on security in Dhaka that 7,015 people had been arrested in the 15 days since the blockade
began.
Bangladesh is offering rewards for the capture of the arson attackers.
The bounties are for help in arresting the perpetrators of attacks during an opposition transport blockade, said Minister Amu, who is also head of a law and order committee.
“None will be spared if found involved in acts of terrorism,” the minister said.
The crisis began when police confined Zia to her office after she threatened to lead a mass rally against her political rival Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
She wants Hasina to call fresh polls after last year’s controversial general election, which opposition parties boycotted on the grounds it would be rigged.
The boycott meant most members of the 300-seat parliament were returned unopposed, handing Hasina another five years in power.
Zia, who denies her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist allies were responsible for firebombings, has also demanded the release of opposition officials and leaders detained over the violence.
Hasina has accused Zia of trying to trigger “anarchy” and ordered the security agencies to hunt down the protesters behind the firebombings.
The United States, Britain and the European Union have expressed concern over the
unrest.
The EU, the nation’s biggest export destination, has urged Hasina’s government and the opposition to hold talks to resolve the crisis.
Police yesterday seized 130 hand-made bombs and raw materials from a house in the capital Dhaka’s Mohakhali.
Mostafizur Rahman, 23, president of Bangaldesh Islami Chhatra Shibir’s Banani unit, was arrested with four others during a raid at the house at TB Gate area in Dhaka around 4am, said Banani police office chief Bhuiyan
Mahbub Hossain.
The rest are the activists of Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing, he said.
One kilo of gunpowder, 10kg of stone chips, 3kg of nails and two litres of petrol have also been recovered.
Bhuiyan said one of the activists is an expert in making bombs.
They have been living in the house they rented a few months ago, said Gulshan Division Deputy Commissioner of Police Lutfur Kabir.
The government earlier blocked mobile apps that were allegedly being used by the
attackers to dodge police.
State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan defended the suspension of the Internet telephony and messaging service apps as necessary for security reasons.
“The restriction will be lifted soon,” he said.
