DHAKA, 19 May 2005 — Normal life and businesses were badly affected in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka yesterday as opposition Awami League enforced a dawn-to-dusk strike protesting the killing of a party leader.
Shops, schools and private offices were closed here with 28 protesters arrested in the daylong strike. The strike was called to protest the killing of Khorshed Alam, a lawyer and legal secretary of the Awami League’s Dhaka section, who was shot dead by unknown assailants on Tuesday.
The killing sparked a rampage Tuesday by up to 400 party activists who destroyed several vehicles. Police said yesterday’s dawn to dusk strike in the capital passed off without any serious incidents although 28 activists, including 25 women, were arrested during one protest. A huge contingent of police guarded the city to ward off violence, police said.
Awami League chief and former Prime Minister Hasina Wajed blamed the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for the killing and said, “The murder is a part of a blue-print of the ruling party to eliminate Awami League leaders.”
The Awami League has repeatedly called nationwide strikes over the past year to protest a series of attacks on party rallies.
The attacks include a grenade assault last August that killed more than 20 party activists and which has been described by Washington as an assassination attempt on Hasina.
In January, a grenade attack killed five members of the Awami League, including lawmaker and ex-Finance Minister Shah A.M.S. Kibria, who was also a former under secretary general of the United Nations.
Last May, the Awami league Member of Parliament Ahsanullah Master was gunned down at a rally near Dhaka.
Police said they were investigating whether internal party bickering could have been the motive for Tuesday’s killing. The government has, however, said it is doing everything it can to hunt down the killers.
Meanwhile, as tropical rainstroms continued to batter Bangladesh yesterday, claiming at least 23 lives, authorities confirmed that two ferry disasters caused by the recent storms have killed 83 and left over 170 missing. About 200 people were onboard the M.L. Roypura which capsized on the Jamuna River near Aricha in central Bangladesh Tuesday.
Rescuers said at least 40 people managed to swim to the riverbank before the ship went under. Just two bodies were recovered from the water while the rest of the passengers, including many children, are reported missing. The death toll from Sunday’s ferry disaster in southern Bangladesh hit 81 yesterday as rescue workers picked up 22 more bodies floating in the Buriganga River.
