Bangladeshi police arrested two senior leaders of the opposition BNP party on Friday, a day before their planned rally in the capital to call for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas were selected through the detective branch in their homes in separate pre-dawn raids in the capital.
“Men from the DB (detective branch) arrested M. Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at his home in Uttara (region) around 3 a. m. Zahirul Islam told reporters.
Without elaborating, the official said Alamgir had been taken into the custody of a detective for upcoming proceedings as former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s BNP waged an anti-government campaign.
Meanwhile, a BNP spokesman said police also arrested state committee member Abbas, a former mayor of Dhaka, at his home in Shahjahanpur in the capital in a pre-dawn raid.
BNP spokesman Zahiruddin Swapan said the men in civilian clothes said they took Alamgir away on “orders from the high command. “
It is not easy for the BNP for Prime Minister Hasina to resign in favour of new elections under an interim government led by the Awami League, fearing that the polls will be rigged through her administration.
Bangladesh will hold its next elections in 2024.
The progression came two days after one user was killed and dozens injured when police clashed with angry BNP activists outside its head office in Naya Paltan as they prepared for the December 10 demonstration.
Police described BNP’s Naya Paltan as a “crime scene” after claiming to have discovered Molotov cocktails at the scene.
Fifteen Western embassies issued a joint statement earlier this week calling on the country to allow freedom of expression, nonviolent gatherings and fair elections.
The BNP disagrees with the government over the progress of its planned demonstration. The party alleged that some 2,000 of its activists had been arrested in recent days to thwart the December 10 demonstration.
Several government and police leaders said they hoped the dispute over the protest site would be resolved as the BNP fielded two election sites.
Prior to the planned demonstration in Dhaka, the BNP has held several non-violent public meetings in major cities in Bangladesh in recent weeks.
But the party alleged that the government tried to antagonize them by manipulating shipping owners into calling on regional shipping movements to prevent their supporters from joining the demonstrations.
Despite being the main opposition, the BNP has stayed out of parliament as it boycotted the 2014 and 2018 elections, saying no election by the incumbent government will be fair or credible.
In the 2018 elections, the BNP suffered a dismal defeat by winning six seats in the 300-member parliament and since then the party has remained in a wild state.
Political analysts said the BNP had garnered significant support but the party was in bad shape after its president, Zia, 77, was convicted on two corruption charges.
In 2017, a court sentenced her to 17 years and spent months in Array.
Zia, a three-time prime minister, was allowed to stay at home in Dhaka under a special government order since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and banned from political activity.
The BNP chose its eldest expatriate son, Tarique Rahman, convicted on several counts of fraud and corruption, as interim president.
He now remains in London and oversees the party from abroad.
Several Bangladeshi courts have declared him a fugitive because he appeared fit to face the charges. PTI AR NSA
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