8 buses torched in Dhaka

At least eight buses were set on fire in Dhaka on Sunday ahead of the two days of opposition-sponsored nationwide shutdown.

A ‘New Vision Paribahan’ bus was set ablaze at Paltan in front of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque at around 1pm.

Fire Service and Civil Defence (Ramna Zone) Senior Station Officer Mostafa Mohsin told bdnews24.com two of their units rushed to the spot and doused the flames.

A second bus was burned near Malibagh’s Ayesha Shopping Complex at around 1:40pm, Ramna Police Station Inspector (patrol) Mohammad Shahid said.

“Some boys were running away soon after the bus was seen engulfed in flames,” he said, citing eyewitnesses.

Fire-fighters doused the fire immediately, he said.

Malibagh is less than a kilometre away from Moghbazar where the Jamaat-e-Islami, the key ally of BNP enforcing the shutdown, is headquartered.

Another bus (Motijheel-Gulshan) was torched in Farmgate at around 2pm, Fire Service control room official Mohammad Alim said. “Two units were deployed to douse the flames.”

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said miscreants attempted to set fire to a covered van in New Eskaton area in ‘BIAM Bhaban’ alley, but flames were soon doused.

Unidentified miscreants torched the fourth bus in front of Khalek Petrol Pump at Kalyanpur an hour later, witnesses said.

Fire Service control room's officer Ziaur Rahman told bdnews24.com at around 5:45pm they had primary information that at least three more buses had been torched at Khilgaon, Mirpur-12 intersection and Kakrail areas.

He, however, could not immediately provide details.

Another bus was seen engulfed in flames near Chankharpul in the evening.

Strike supporters torched two more vehicles near New Eskaton and Naya Paltan.

It was, however, unclear exactly who were behind the arson. Generally, strike supporters launch such attacks to scare people ahead of any planned shutdowns.

Meanwhile, a mob beat up a ‘strike supporter’ and turned him in to police as he allegedly tried to set ablaze a CNG in front of the Anti-Corruption Commission’s headquarters at Segunbagicha.

Ramna Police Station Sub-Inspector Rashad Ara Sultana confirmed bdnews24.com about the incident, but did not provide details.

The string of arson took place hours after a Jamaat-e-Islami leader from Sylhet was arrested in Dhaka early Sunday. The party’s unit in Sylhet issued a 48-hour deadline for the leader’s release.

The BNP and its partners will enforce two days of daylong, nationwide shutdowns starting Monday to demand release of its leaders and activists detained from the party headquarters.

At a rally in Manikganj, Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia on Saturday hinted at enforcing a tougher shutdown as she declined to offer any proposal for talks to resolve current political crisis.