Five top BNP leaders placed on remand
DHAKA, Nov. 14 (nsnewswire) — Five top leaders of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) were placed on eight-day remand Thursday in two cases.
Dhaka’s Metropolitan Magistrate Rezaul Karim rejected their bail petitions and gave police five days in one case and three days in the other case.
BNP leaders Moudud Ahmed, MK Anwar and Rafiqul Islam, who are members of standing committee, the highest policy- making body of the opposition party, were shown arrested in the two cases filed on Sept. 24 and Nov. 6.
Two other accused are BNP Chairperson Khaleda’s Advisor Abdul Awal Mintoo and her Special Assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswa
All the accused were arrested during a surprise crackdown on opposition on Nov. 8 night and during the early hours of the subsequent day.
Cases were filed against them for attempting to kill policemen and creating violence in the capital city
Terming the cases as “false and fabricated”, BNP spokesman Rizvi Ahmed had earlier claimed that the arrests were made as part of the government’s conspiracy to hold a one-party election.
Police arrested the BNP leaders hours after Khaleda’s opposition alliance announced 72-hour nationwide strike form Nov. 10 morning, demanding national polls slated for early 2014 under a non-party caretaker government.
Protesting the arrest of top leaders, the opposition alliance extended its 72-hour shutdown by 12 hours.
The two leading leaders of South Asian country’s politics held phone talks last Oct. 26, the first direct conversation between the two leaders of the South Asian country’s politics since January, 2009 when Hasina cabinet took oath of office.
Although both the parties are seeking dialogue to end impasse over the formation of the polls-time government, but no headway is being made so far. The country’s national elections are slated for early 2014.