DHAKA, 17 February — Bangladeshi police arrested nearly 300 suspected gunrunners and other criminals during an overnight raid in the capital, with the sprawling Dhaka University the focus of attention. Those detained included 85 students, most members of the student wing of ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, police said yesterday.
During the raids by police and paramilitary troops, local mobile phone networks were shut down so suspects could not communicate with each other or with dishonest security officers trying to tip them off, senior police officials said.
They clampdown followed orders by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to crack down on “terrorists and criminals” irrespective of their political identities. The 30,000-student university, the biggest in Bangladesh, had asked the prime minister to curb campus crime and gunrunning. More than 30 students have been killed and hundreds wounded in attacks over the past decades, officials said.
They said only top police officers had prior information about Friday’s raid. “The soldiers found some policemen on duty on the campus sleeping when they arrived,” one university official said. Police said students belonging to both ruling and opposition parties were involved in crime on the campus and used their dormitories as safe shelters.
Home Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury earlier said Khaleda had told her student supporters that they would not be spared if were involved in crime and terrorism. “She is taking a very tough stance on this,” Chowdhury told reporters.
Meanwhile, opposition parties yesterday blamed the ruling coalition for recent attacks on Hindu minorities, accusing the government of failing to rein in extremists. The accusations against the four-month-old government were contained in a statement released at a press conference at the end of a two-day-long convention on “crimes against humanity” in Dhaka sponsored by the main opposition Awami League.
Secular leftist parties, trade unionists, human rights workers, cultural activists and aid agencies attending the convention signed a declaration calling on the four-party coalition government to stop persecution of religious minorities in the country. Opposition leader and former Premier Sheikh Hasina, who took part in the convention, said militant groups sharing power with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of Khaleda were behind the attacks on minorities in the country.
Former President Hussain Muhammad Ershad returned home yesterday after four months abroad and said he would decide his political future after talking with colleagues. “I will decide my future in politics after talking with my Jatiyo Party leaders and workers,” he told reporters at the airport, adding: “We are and we will remain in opposition.” Asked if he feared being arrested, the former general said: “I am on bail now and I will fight the outstanding cases in court.”
