Detective Branch (DB) of Police detained BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir from his Gulshan residence on Sunday morning.
Amid BNP’s hartal, a group of law enforcers raided Fakhrul’s Gulshan-2 house and detained him around 9:25am, said BNP media wing member Sairul Kabir Khan.
Later, he was taken to the DB’s Mintoo road office, said Faruk Hossain, deputy commissioner (media) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).
He said the BNP leader, who has been facing many cases, will be shown arrested.
Fakhrul’s wife Rahat Ara Begum said a team of DB police came to their house in the morning and talked to Fakhrul and others.
She said the law enforcers first took away all the CCTV camera devices and footages from the building of their house.
“Ten minutes later, they came back again and took him (Fakhrul) away,” Rahat Ara said.
She said Fakhrul is very ill and he has been undergoing treatment.
“I can't accept that a 75-year-old man will be taken away in this way. I hope they will release him after questioning,” Rahat Ara said.
The detention came as opposition BNP on Saturday called for a dawn-to-dusk nationwide hartal for Sunday to protest violence centring the party's grand rally at Naya Paltan.
Fakhrul announced the shutdown after suspending the rally abruptly following violent clashes between law enforcers and opposition activists that killed at least two people, including a police constable and injured several hundred others.
Half an hour after the start of BNP's much-talked-about grand rally at Naya Paltan, the party's leaders and workers locked into a clash with the police at Kakrail. With the passage of time, violent clashes spread around Naya Paltan, forcing BNP to abruptly call off the rally.
According to Dhaka Metropolitan Police, its constable Aminul Islam, 30, was killed and 102 others were injured during the clashes with the opposition protesters.
DMP Deputy Commissioner (Media) Faruk Hossain said that the injured policemen were undergoing treatment at different hospitals, including Rajarbagh Police Hospital and Dhaka Medical College Hospital. He said they were injured during clashes in Motijheel, Kakrail and Naya Paltan areas while on duty, Faruk Hossain added.
Besides, Jubo Dal claimed its Mugda thana unit leader Shamim Molla died at Rajarbagh Police Hospital after receiving bullets at Naya Paltan during the clashes.
Jubo Dal acting general secretary Shafiqul Islam Milton said Shamim was shot by law enforcers at Nayapaltan and he was declared dead while taken to the police hospital. He claimed that Shamim’s body was there at the police hospital morgue.
‘Govt unleashed attacks, violence to foil BNP rally’
Fakhrul on Saturday alleged that the government foiled their party’s grand rally at Naya Paltan through planned attacks after failing to prevent lakhs of people from joining the programme.
In a statement, he said, "The planned violence and armed attacks by the police and Awami League cadres on the pre-announced peaceful grand rally of the BNP are unprecedented and despicable."
The BNP leader also said the armed and bloody attacks on their programme were a reflection of what the AL leaders and the police have said since the announcement of the rally.
He said the government could not stop the rally by stopping the buses, trains, and launches.
“When they (the government) saw lakhs of people join the grand rally, braving the obstacles, they attacked our programme in a planned way and foiled it. The government made a complete master plan and attacked the BNP rally in fear of losing power,” he observed.
Fakhrul said the ruling party leaders’ announcement to resist the BNP’s rally with sticks and police officers' threats of attack and mass arrest had been implemented on Saturday.
He claimed that police and Awami 'cadres' attacked the BNP followers with sticks and weapons as the crowd of the rally reached up to Kakrail Mosque.
“They (police) came to the party office at Naya Paltan by firing rubber bullets and lobbing tear gas shells. Senior leaders on stage were also fatally injured in police firing and tear gas shells,” the BNP leader said.
He claimed that Mugda Thana unit Jubo Dal leader Shamim Mollah was killed in police firing during the attacks on their rally.
Besides, the BNP leader said over 1,000 other opposition leaders and workers were shot and seriously injured.
He said the injured opposition leaders and workers were undergoing treatment in different hospitals in the capital.
The BNP leader also claimed that more than three hundred of their party leaders and followers have been arrested since Saturday.
In the last few days, he said the police arrested more than 2,000 BNP leaders and activists centring the grand rally.
Fakhrul strongly condemned and protested against the attacks by police and the ruling party 'cadres' on the BNP rally and demanded the release of those arrested.
