Tension prevailed in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Thursday as the anniversary of the assassination of the country’s founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is usually marked with massive tributes but violence is expected this year.
The caretaker government National holiday commemorating Mujib’s assassination in 1975 cancelledThe decision was taken to defuse tensions between supporters of the ousted Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its Islamist ally Jamaat-e-Islami.
Fearing clashes, many people stayed indoors and shops remained shut across the city. There were reports of rival Awami League supporters being attacked as they came to pay tribute to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Hundreds of students armed with bamboo sticks patrolled the streets near the school. Mujib’s former residence in DhanmondiAccording to the Daily Star newspaper, police checked the identities of passersby and detained those found suspicious. The detained persons were later handed over to the army.
Students, who played a key role in the recent protests that ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from power, have vowed to prevent Awami League supporters from holding any gathering.
“The Awami League will try to create chaos in the name of observing a day of mourning on Thursday,” prominent student leader Sarjis Alam told reporters on Wednesday, according to the Daily Star. “We will be out on the streets to oppose any such attempt.”
Rahman’s daughter Sheikh Hasina fled to India on August 5 following dramatic protests that ended his 15-year rule. In her first public statement since her departure, she said, He urged supporters to pray at the site where his father was killedwhich was demolished recently.
Thousands of civil servants, who usually attend government-organised commemorations, were ordered by the interim government to remain seated at their desks.
The political turmoil comes at a time when a Dhaka court has filed a murder case against Hasina, two senior Awami League aides and four police officers in connection with last month’s unrest. Several other top party officials have also been detained.
Hasina has demanded an investigation into the violence and blamed police weapons for the deaths of more than 450 people during the protests.
(With AFP inputs)
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