Police raids send BNP men fleeing

With the electioneering for Khulna City Corporation polls ending this midnight, tension has gripped the rival camps of the Awami League and the BNP after police picked up more BNP men yesterday.

In the last three days, Khulna police raided the houses of about 1,600 BNP men and arrested 56 of them, the party alleged, adding that the law enforcers' move panicked BNP leaders and activists in the district.

Many party men have fled their homes to avoid arrest, BNP leaders told The Daily Star.

Contacted, Sonali Sen, additional deputy commissioner of Khulna Metropolitan Police (KMP), said they were launching drives to arrest “listed criminals” to keep the election environment congenial.

Without coming up with the number of the arrestees, she said police were not detaining BNP men alone. “We are arresting leaders and activists of other parties as well so that people can cast their votes without any disturbance”.

Meanwhile, the mayor candidates from the ruling AL and the BNP engaged in a war of words yesterday, heating up the political arena in Khulna ahead of the polls on Tuesday.

Apart from the two leaders, mayor candidates from Jatiya Party, Communist Party of Bangladesh and Islami Andolon Bangladesh were also campaigning in full swing.

Khulna is the third largest city in the country and about 4.93 lakh people would vote to elect the mayor and 41 ward councillors in the election.

As many as 148  candidates are vying for 31 councillor posts while 38 women are contesting for 10 reserved ward councillors' posts, said sources at the returning officer's office.

The KCC election, ahead of the parliamentary polls likely in December, has been a prestigious issue for the AL and its archrival BNP. According to many political analysts, the local body election is also a test for the Election Commission to prove its acceptance and capability ahead of the national polls.

WAR OF WORDS

At a press conference at his home yesterday, BNP's mayor choice Nazrul Islam Monju alleged that police were arresting his party men as part of the government's evil design to keep the BNP away from campaigning.

Providing a list of “detainees”, the BNP leader alleged that Khulna police in the last 20 days since April 22 have held 74 BNP men.

Monju, who had suspended electioneering for four hours on May 3 protesting the “detaining” of his party men, urged international observers to come and monitor the election atmosphere in Khulna.

He also alleged that his rival candidate from the AL, Talukder Abdul Khaleque, was using police to win the polls by harassing BNP men as he had failed to woo voters.  He further alleged that AL “cadres” were threatening his supporters to stop them campaigning.

Hours later at another press conference, the AL said everyone in the city knew that Monju was an “outlaw and member of a militant organisation”.

“His attitudes mirror the behaviour of [executed war criminal] Salauddin Quader Chowdhury,” AL leader Harunur Rashid, chairman of Khulna Zila Parishad, said at the programme.

“Monju's statements prove that he is a patroniser of militant and terrorist outfits,” he added.

In such a situation, cocktails exploded in at least 10 points of the city on Friday night.

Meanwhile, talking to The Daily Star, a BNP leader, wishing anonymity, said he is haunted by the fear of arrest. “The indiscriminate arrest of BNP men has panicked us all”.

Several other BNP men said police were not letting hotels to accommodate the party men who went there from other districts ahead of the polls.

On the other hand, KMP yesterday asked those who live outside Khulna to leave the city by today. It made the move to avoid any unwanted situation during the election, said an official from the KMP.

CAMPAIGN

With just a day remaining for the campaign, candidates were passing busy time going from door to door, seeking votes.

The mayor aspirants sought votes on the roads with the use of megaphones. They also distributed leaflets and manifestos with their electoral pledges among the city people.

Yesterday, both the rival candidates from the AL and the BNP completed campaigns at all the 31 wards, said their respective election agents.

AL candidate Khaleque and his supporters yesterday visited different spots in KCC area, including ward 31, seeking support and votes for “boat”, his electoral symbol.

Monju during electioneering urged people to cast their votes in favour of “sheaf of paddy” to “restore democracy and rule of law”.

RISK CENTRES

Returning Officer Md Yunus Ali said out of total 289 polling stations, 226 are “risky”.  Talking to The Daily Star, he also said 10 executive magistrates and 31 magistrates would work to thwart any untoward situation on voting day.

A total of 2,978 voters in two centres would cast votes using Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), he added.

'REIGN OF TERROR'

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday alleged that a reign of terror had been established in Khulna city to ensure the ruling party mayoral candidate's victory in Tuesday's election.

"Our leaders have returned from Khulna as there's a law that all the outsiders must leave the election areas before 72 hours of the voting. But now a reign of terror has been established there," he said at a discussion arranged by Doctors' Association of Bangladesh (DAB) at the Jatiya Press Club.