BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be ousted from the office before the country is hit by famine, which the premier is apprehending.

He came up with the remark at the rally held at Collectorate Eidgah ground in Rangpur to denounce the price hikes of daily essentials and fuels and also protesting the killing its leaders and activists.

Amir Khasru said hartal is usually called by the opposition party but now the government is enforcing the strike.

"So, now you can understand what is the situation of the government. Basically, the government is alienated from the people," he added

The BNP leader said the party called for movement but people in Rangpur division did revolution through their huge presence in the rally.

Amir Khasru, also the key speaker of the rally, said the party will not join any talks with the government terming the dialogues as "traps".

Portraying a gloomy picture of the country's economy including gas and electricity crisis, the BNP leader said the country's economy is at stake.

While addressing the rally, the party's standing committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku said the spirit that the BNP leaders and activists have shown regarding the rally is nothing but the indication of ousting the government from the office.

"Party members' dedication will not go in vain. Hasina (pm) must go and will go," he said.

Tuku said this time the movement is meant for the victory only. "We will not return home without ensuing our victory," he added.

AZM Zahid Hossain, vice chairman of the party and also coordinator of the rally, said, "The city turned into a city of procession," he said adding that the government should take steps for taking safe exit from the office to avert public wreath.

The chamber judge of the Supreme Court today refused to stay a High Court order that granted bail to BNP leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Mirza Abbas in a case filed over Nayapaltan clashes.

Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim, chamber judge of the Appellate Division of the SC, however, ordered the counsels for the BNP leaders not to furnish bail bonds for them before the lower court concerned till January 8.

Justice Jahangir also sent the state's petition to its full bench for a hearing of the matter on January 8.

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Bail for Fakhrul, Abbas: state challenges HC order

BNP Secretary General Fakhrul and the party's standing committee member Abbas cannot be released from jail till January 8, Additional Attorney General Mohammad Mehedi Hassan Chowdhury told The Daily Star.

The apex court chamber judge passed the order following a petition filed by the state seeking a stay on the HC's bail order .

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin appeared for the state while senior lawyer Zainul Abedin argued for Fakhrul and Abbas during the hearing of the petition.

The HC yesterday granted six months ad-interim bail to Fakhrul and Abbas and issued a rule asking the state to explain why they should not be granted permanent bail in this case.

The house on Gulshan Avenue from where BNP leader Moudud Ahmed has recently been evicted has a unique story of love, deception and battle for ownership.

It all began in the 1960s when a man and a woman of two nationalities fell in love and eventually got married. Each of the couple -- Inge Flatz, an Austrian, and Muhammad Ehsan, a Pakistani, had their own businesses.

Flatz had her own property and business in the then East Pakistan and she retained her family name and nationality even after her marriage.

Dhaka Improvement Trust, now Rajuk, allotted her a one-bigha-and-13-katha plot on September 9, 1965, where she built a house with prior approval of the Trust, according to the Supreme Court verdict in the case involving the house. 

In 1972, however, the house was declared abandoned after the couple left the country and its possession transferred to the government. 

But Flatz launched a battle to regain her ownership, seeking assistance from the Austrian government, which apparently took the matter seriously.

Between 1972 and 1981, three Austrian ambassadors in Dhaka held a series of meetings with senior Bangladeshi officials and tried to persuade them to restore Flatz's ownership. Finally in June 1980, the government returned the house to her. Moudud, a BNP minister at the time, allegedly played a role in all this.

A new chapter of this saga opened when Flatz rented the house to Moudud under a lease agreement on May 23, 1981. The BNP leader started to live in the house with his family in June that year, according to the SC verdict. 

In a new twist, however, a man named Mohsin Darbar was given the power of attorney by Flatz to do everything related to the property, including its sale. 

During the trial, defence lawyers claimed Mohsin sold the house to Manzur Ahmed, Moudud's brother, on October 10, 1985.

Manzur also told the court that the price was fixed at 60,000 sterling pounds. Of which, he gave Flatz an advance of 20,000 and promised to pay the rest during registration of the land. But Mohsin was unable to obtain his income tax certificate and the permission to sell the property, for which it could not be registered.

Manzur filed a petition with a Dhaka court in 1993, seeking mutation of the property in his name. But in 2001, a Dhaka court dismissed the petition, saying that Mohsin Darbar is a fictitious character created for the purpose of giving the power of attorney.

The case later went to the High Court and eventually to the Supreme Court.

The SC too concluded that Mohsin Darbar “is a fake person set up by the plaintiff [Manzur Ahmed] to grab property by deceitful means."

It also said there was no evidence of any advance payment to Flatz as claimed by Manzur.

Documents produced by the government conclusively proved Flatz died before the execution of the agreement of sale of the property worth Tk 300 crore.

Manzur, who moved the apex court, finally lost the legal battle to retain control over the house where Moudud had been living until his eviction on June 7.

Following his eviction, Moudud said he had an enormous “emotional attachment” to the house as his kids grew up there. “This house is not a mere house to me. It's more than that.”

Rajuk evicted Moudud from this house in Gulshan. File Photo

'REAL' OWNER IN TOWN

But the saga continues and promises to drag on further.

On Wednesday, just weeks after the eviction, Austrian citizen Karim Franz Solaiman claimed ownership of the house, identifying himself as the son of Flatz-Ehsan couple.

At a press conference at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka, Karim, 54, claimed to be the only heir to the property. He said he already applied to the government and Rajuk to mutate the house in his name.

The property still belongs to his family, which was established by the SC verdict, he added. 

Asked if Moudud paid the house rents, he said: not a single penny.

When asked to comment about Karim's claim, Moudud said, “I came to know about him from newspapers today [yesterday]. I do not know anything about it.”

Karim was allegedly picked by law enforcers from a Gulshan hotel yesterday. 

Abdul Baten, joint commissioner of Detective Branch of police of the DMP, said, “We neither detained nor arrested him. Karim came to the police, seeking cooperation to regain ownership of the house.”

However, Md Shahjahan, additional deputy commissioner of DB (Gulshan Zone), said, “We brought him for interrogation.”

Karim's counsel Jennifer Ashraf said her client came to Dhaka on Saturday to establish his ownership and give the power of attorney to someone.

She added she was given the power of attorney.

Asked why he has come now, she said, “Karim was very concerned about his security. Also, the legal battle was on, so he was waiting for the verdict.”

Karim is a marine biologist and a real estate businessman in Austria. He contacted Jennifer in 2014 and since then they were keeping their eyes on the issue. Karim has some friends in Bangladesh who were giving him updates regularly.

His mother died of cancer at the age of 43. Till the last day of her life, she wanted to regain ownership of the house where she had a lot of memories. The house was built when she was some 22 years old, Karim told the press conference.

“I came here to claim the house as my mother's memory was closely linked to the house,” he said.

After police “released” him in the evening, he was preparing to leave Dhaka for Austria last night. As of 1:00am today, he was at the Dhaka airport.

Police so far arrested 200 people for the attack on police and the vandalism of a prison van in the Supreme Court area on January 30, said DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia yesterday.

“The attackers swooped on police in 'filmy style'. We are arresting the attackers after identifying them in footage run by the media,” said the commissioner in reply to a query regarding the number of arrests.

The DMP boss made the comments while inspecting the security arrangement at Amar Ekushey Bio Mela ground at Suhrawardy Udyan, reports our staff correspondent.

On January 30, a group of BNP men attacked a prison van and snatched two of their fellows from it in the Supreme Court area. The attackers also broke two rifles of policemen guarding the van.

It happened when the motorcade of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was crossing the area.

Three cases have been filed with Ramna and Shahbagh police stations for assaulting police and vandalism of the prison van. Top BNP leaders accused in the cases include Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Shawkat Mahmud, Asaduzzaman Ripon, Zainul Abedin Faruk, Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel and Shyama Obayed. 

The BNP supporters attacked police to create an unstable situation in the country and they were arresting the people involved, said the DMP boss.

Meanwhile, police have arrested 28 BNP leaders and activists, including a municipality mayor, in Narayanganj, Sylhet and Jessore.

Those held in Narayanganj were shown arrested in various old cases filed in connection with “sabotage attempts”, reports our Narayanganj correspondent.

Sarafatullah, inspector of Special Branch of Narayanganj police, said 19 people had been arrested in old cases. One was held at Siddhirganj, 10 at Sonargaon, six at Rupganj and two at Bandar Police Station.

Majharul Islam, inspector of Detective Branch of police in Narayanganj, said BNP leader and Mayor of Kanchan municipality Abul Bashar Badshah was also arrested late Saturday night.

Abdus Sattar, officer-in-charge of Siddhirganj Police Station, said Babul Prodan, president of Siddhirganj ward-9 BNP, was arrested the same night.

Shafiqul Islam, a sub-inspector of Narayanganj Sadar Model Police Station, said Masukul Islam Rajib, organising secretary of district BNP, was arrested at his Mission Para home yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, police foiled a procession brought out by Chhatra Dal in Golapganj municipality area of Sylhet yesterday and arrested five men from the spot, reports our correspondent in Sylhet.

The procession was brought out to welcome BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's Sylhet visit today.

The arrestees are: Sufian Ahmed Khan, joint organising secretary of the municipality unit BNP, Chhatra Dal activists Jahangir Ahmed, Rayhan Ahmed, Foyez Ahmed and Kamal Ahmed.

Jubel Ahmed, a leader of JCD Golapganj municipality unit, said police foiled the procession charging truncheons.

Witnesses said the JCD activists also attacked police with brick chunks.

Mir Mohammad Abu Naser, inspector (investigation) of Golapganj Police Station, said police arrested them to control the situation.

In Jessore, police arrested Jhenidah unit BNP organising Secretary MA Mazid last night while he was on his way to Dhaka.

Mazid, also the upazila chairman of Harinakundo in Jhenidah, was arrested at Jessore airport. He was accused of being involved in “subversive activities”, Azmal Huda, officer-in-charge of Jessore Kotwali Police Station, told our Jhenidah correspondent.