DHAKA, 14 September 2005 — Bangladesh’s main opposition Awami League party called for the ouster of a minister for his alleged support for the establishment of Islamic rule in the country, sources said yesterday.
Calls by the Awami League for the sacking of Industry Minister Matiur Rahman Nizami — who is head of the Jamaat-I-Islami party — coincide with calls from leftist secular groups to ban religion-based politics in the Moslem majority country.
“Nizami has been aiding the militants in perpetrating their current campaign of terror in the country,” said Abdur Razzak, of the Awami League.
Nizami, however, has refuted opposition claims that he and his party had a role in the Aug. 17 blasts across the country that rocked the capital Dhaka and killed three people.
The Awami League and 13 other small parties have announced joint plans to hold street rallies and strikes at the weekend to put pressure on the government to expel its Islamic allies from the ruling coalition. Police and other security forces have blamed the countrywide explosions largely on armed cadres of the banned militant organization Jamatul Mujahedeen.
Three Jamatul Mujahedeen suspects were detained overnight after a police drive in Dhaka uncovered two make-shift factories assembling crude but deadly grenades.
Over 300 suspected militants were arrested for their reported links with the cross-country bomb attacks. A cleric was being interrogated yesterday about the serial bomb attacks, a police official said.
Obaidur Rahman Fazle was arrested late Monday at his father-in-law’s house in Jamalpur district, 128 km north of Dhaka, police chief Noor Akhand said.
Yesterday, a court in allowed police to keep Fazle, 35, in custody for questioning about the Aug. 17 explosions, Akhand said.
Fazle is the younger brother of Abdur Rahman, a fugitive leader of the Jamatul Mujahedeen suspected of carrying out the bombings. He is also suspected of being a member the group.
