Nationwide drives: Some 11,000 held in last 15 days

At least 179 more people were arrested in the capital and elsewhere in 36 hours till 6:00pm yesterday as the nationwide crackdown on alleged saboteurs as well as protesters and opposition parties continues.

Of them, 63 were arrested in the capital, and 116 in 27 districts, said police.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police produced those arrested in the capital before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka yesterday.

The court sent most of them to jail and placed some of the arrestees on remand.

According to the latest count, at least 10,947 people, including students, BNP, and Jamaat-Shibir leaders and activists, have been arrested in 674 cases filed in the capital and 51 districts over the last 15 days since July 18.

Several thousand named and several hundred thousand unnamed individuals have been accused in these cases.

The cases were filed, mostly by police, with different police stations over violence, vandalism, arson, and killings.

The country witnessed violence on an unprecedented scale after the peaceful demonstrations for quota reform turned deadly on July 15 when Chhatra League attacked the protesting students on different university campuses.

Among those arrested in 27 districts in the 36 hours till 6:00pm yesterday, 11 each were held in Khulna, Rajshahi, and Pabna; nine in Magura; eight in Noakhali; seven each in Sylhet and Chattogram; six in Satkhira; five each in Savar and Narayanganj; four each in Sirajganj and Mymensingh; three each in Tangail, Bogura, Rangpur, Kishoreganj, and Barishal; two each in Habiganj, Narsingdi, and Jhenaidah; one each in Madaripur, Gaibandha, Natore, Panchagarh, Meherpur, Manikganj, and Laxmipur.

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday placed BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed and five others on a three-day remand each in a case filed over the vandalism and torching of Setu Bhaban on July 18.

The others are Jamaat Secretary General Miah Golam Parwar, BNP Organizing Secretary Qazi Sayedul Alam Babul, its Dhaka North City unit Member Secretary Aminul Haque, Publicity Secretary Sultan Salauddin Tuku, and Bagerhat district BNP unit Convener MA Salam.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Rashidul Alam passed the order after Abu Sayeed Miah, an inspector of Detective Branch of Police and also investigation officer of the case, produced them with a 10-day remand appeal.

Earlier in the day, the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Saddam Hossain sent eight men, including former Ducsu vice-president Nurul Haque Nur and BNP activist Mahmudus Salehin to jail after police produced them before the court upon completion of their five-day remand in a case filed over the vandalism of the Kazipara Metro Station in the city's Mirpur on July 19.

Moreover, a juvenile court in Dhaka yesterday again rejected a bail petition of Hasnatul Islam Faiyaz in a case filed over the killing of a police constable during the recent violence in Dhaka's Jatrabari on July 19.

Judge Roksana Begum Happy of Juvenile Court-3 of Dhaka passed the order after Faiyaz's lawyer sought his bail on the grounds the client was not involved with the incident.

Meanwhile, the court of Additional Metropolitan Magistrate, Dhaka, Tofazzal Hossain granted bail to Md Emon Khan, an HSC examinee and a student of Dhaka Udayan Govt College, in a case filed over the vandalism of an office of Chhatra League in the city's Adabor on July 19.

Besides, a Chattogram court sent a quota protest coordinator to jail after he was arrested in a case filed over the clash between the BCL activists and quota reform protestors in the Muradpur area on July 16.

The arrestee Adnan Sharif, is a student of Islamic studies department at of Chittagong University.