Dhaka: Bangladesh’s main opposition BNP and its right wing allies on Saturday began to enforce another 72-hour nationwide blockade demanding postponement of upcoming general elections, a day after ending a deadly protest campaign.
“The countrywide 72-hour road, rail and waterways blockade will start from 6:00 am tomorrow and last until Monday 6 am,” BNP joint secretary general and spokesman Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told media men at the party office last night.
The fresh blockade was called demanding cancellation of the election schedule setting January 5, 2014 for voting and to mount pressure on the Awami League government to release their detained leaders and activists.
But in a predawn raid police arrested Rizvi raiding the BNP central office, while opposition activists launched the second spell of blockade exploding crude bombs and staging brief street marches in the capital.
Witnesses said plainclothesmen backed by police in riot gear arrested Rizvi entering into the BNP office breaking open the main gate as the incident indicated a tough government stance against the opposition escalating tensions.
Most of the blockade casualties and act of sabotages were reported from outside Dhaka during the previous 71-hour blockade by the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance with fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, that has claimed 22 lives across the country.
Meanwhile, the death of Jamaat activist today took the toll to 23 in the past one week of violence. But the capital Dhaka apparently witnessed the worst part of the violence as at the last leg of the blockade, arsonists set afire a bus in the capital with 19 passengers on Thursday while two of the burn victims died later.
The opposition denied setting fire to the bus, blaming the government, as state minister for home Shamsul Haque Tuku called the arsonists “animals in human disguise”.
Police yesterday filed cases against 17 BNP leaders including acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Rizvi on charges of instigating the arson, prompting BNP chief and ex-prime minister Khaleda Zia to issue a statement demanding immediate withdrawal of the cases. (PTI)