A bus burns on Rokeya Sarani at Sheorapara in the capital yesterday after alleged supporters of the BNP-led 20-party alliance's nationwide indefinite blockade set it on fire. Over 125 vehicles have been torched since January 5. Photo: Collected With security tightened around BNP chief Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office, police yesterday arrested one of her advisers, as the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal calle
d a daylong hartal in Dhaka and 13 adjoining districts for today in a show of strength against the ruling Awami League. The AL, on the other hand, has almost completed preparations for a rally -- to be addressed by Prime Minister and party chief Sheikh Hasina -- at Suhrawardy Udyan today. According to the PM's press team, Hasina will attend the rally at 2:00pm. The party sought a fresh permission on Friday after the Dhaka Metropolitan Police had imposed the ban on rallies and processions in the capital for an indefinite period amid heated political situation from January 4. An official of the DMP media wing last night said the AL was yet to be given the permission. As the AL expects a massive gathering, the JCD is enforcing the hartal to make it difficult to bring people from adjacent districts to the rally, said insiders of the pro-BNP student organisation. “The Awami League used Chhatra League [pro-AL student body] to foil madam's [Khaleda's] December 27 rally in Gazipur. Our hartal is a tit-for-tat programme,” a JCD vice-president said wishing not to be named. Advertisement But according to the formal statement of JCD, the hartal is being enforced to protest Khaleda's confinement to her Gulshan office and demand release of all BNP leaders. The hartal is to be observed in Dhaka, Narayanganj, Gazipur, Tangail, Narsingdi, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Comilla, Brahmanbaria, Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Jamalpur and Netrakona districts. The capital city will remain out of its purview, said JCD Office Secretary Abdus Sattar Patwari. Around 8:30pm yesterday, BNP chief's adviser Shamsuzzaman Dudu, also general secretary of Krishak Dal, was picked up in Mirpur around 8:30pm and taken to the Detective Branch headquarters, according to his party and family sources. As the ongoing nationwide blockade sponsored by the BNP-led 20-party alliance entered sixth day yesterday, over hundred members of police were deployed around Khaleda's office from 11:00am. With women police members guarding the main gate, seven trucks, loaded with sand, bricks and cement, were kept parked blocking Road-86 in front of Khaleda's office -- four on the south and three on the north. However, the trucks were taken away by 8:30pm. Law enforcers set up temporary security checkposts at different entry points to Gulshan and Banani, restricting movement of people. However, the restriction was relaxed by afternoon. Yesterday evening, three members of BNP standing committee -- Jamir Uddin Sircar, Rafiqul Islam Mia and Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman -- met the party chief around 6:30pm. Former attorney general Mohammad Ali was also with them. After January 4, this for the first time members of the standing committee, highest decision-making body of the party, could meet Khaleda. After a 45-minute meeting, the leaders came out of the office and told journalists that Khaleda had called upon all to continue the countrywide “peaceful blockade” until the government invites the BNP to a dialogue on holding a fresh election. Asked about the controversy over BJP chief Amit Shah's reported phone call to Khaleda, Rafiqul Islam Mia, in keeping with his party claim, said the conversation did take place. The BNP chairperson has been kept confined to her office since January 3 as she announced she would hold a mass rally in the capital on January 5, the first anniversary of the parliamentary polls she had boycotted. A number of police officials yesterday said they had information that BNP-Jamaat men might march towards Khaleda's Gulshan office and carry out destruction posing as Tablighi Jamaat members. “Besides, we also had information that she [Khaleda] would try again to join a BNP showdown in front of the party's central office at Naya Paltan,” a police official of Gulshan Zone told The Daily Star, seeking anonymity. He added that after several hours of the Akheri Munajat of the Ijtema they are a bit relaxed as no unwarranted incidents took place. “That's why we have placed some trucks a little far from the BNP chief's office,” the police official added. Talking to BBC Bangla Service, State Minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal yesterday said Khaleda's security has been beefed up but he refuted the allegation that she is under confinement or house arrest. Asked whether the government had any information about a plan to provoke Muslims gathering at Tongi Ijtema ground to unleash violence, Kamal said some vested quarters might have plan to do this. “But we did not give them that opportunity. We have taken all measures to ensure that Ijtema pilgrims return home peacefully.”
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