Jamaat strike begins with sporadic clashes

The Jamaat-e-Islami sponsored strike has begun amid tight security with sporadic clashes and incidents of arson reported from the capital.

The daylong Bangladesh-wide strike coincides with the verdict the International Crimes Tribunal-1 is set to deliver on former Jamaat chief Ghulam Azam later in the day.

Police has tightened security across capital Dhaka since early Monday in a bid to thwart any possible violence that activists of Jamaat and its affiliates might unleash.

Security has also been beefed up at the ICT premises since Sunday.

On Monday morning, a pick-up truck was set on fire at Shahjahanpur around 4:30am.

A fire service unit controlled the fire, Control Room official Farhaduzzaman said.

Two 'tempos' were torched at Mirpur.

Jamaat and Shibir activists also took out flash processions, damaged property and lobbed bombs at Jurain and Rayerbagh, respectively.

DMP Mirpur division Deputy Commissioner Imtiaz Ahmed said the 'tempos' were set on fire around 6:15am at Mirpur’s Mazar Road.

The miscreants fled the scene after damaging some vehicles and exploding homemade bombs.

Shyampur Police Station OC Abdur Rashid said strike supporters tried to set the railway tracks at Jurain on fire.

But later they fled after exploding several bombs.

Jatrabarhi police Sub-Inspector Emranul Islam said strikers exploded several bombs after taking out a flash procession around 6am at Rayerbagh.

However, rickshaws and auto-rickshaws were out on the streets despite the strike. Buses were also seen but in lesser than usual numbers.

Long route buses were grounded at the terminals in the city. But all trains and launches services were completely normal, officials said.

Jamaat-e-Islami had announced the strike hours after the first war crimes tribunal set Monday for Ghulam Azam’s verdict.

“We are calling a dawn-to-dusk countrywide shutdown for Monday demanding release of Professor Ghulam Azam and protesting against the government’s conspiracies,” the party said in a media statement.

Right after calling the strike, a group of Jamaat and Shibir activists took out processions and attacked policemen in the capital’s Bijoynagar. They torched a vehicle used by police and damaged nine others.

Shibir and Jamaat supporters also set several vehicles on fire and damaged many others in different districts including Chittagong.

The tribunal is scheduled to start delivering the verdict from 10am.

Traffic on the streets around the ICT have been diverted as a precautionary measure.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman told bdnews24.com security measures had been tightened to avert any untoward incident and close-circuit cameras would be activated at key points of the city.

“We have enough capacity to tackle any situation,” he said.

Jamaat, accused of committing war crimes by the international crimes tribunals, had enforced shutdowns on the days verdicts were delivered on its leaders Abdul Quader Molla, Delwar Hossain Sayedee and Mohammad Kamaruzzaman.

In its maiden verdict, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 had sentenced former Jamaat leader Abul Kalam Azad alias Bachchu Razakar to death on Jan 21 this year.

The second verdict came the following month against the party’s Assistant Secretary General Molla on Feb 5. He was sentenced to life, triggering violent general strikes for two consecutive days.

Later that month, on Feb 28, Jamaat’s second in command Sayedee was sentenced to death. The party reacted to the verdict by calling a three-day long strike.

Violence during the strike was mainly aimed at destroying Bangladesh’s infrastructure. Government and political party offices too were attacked.

Over 70 people including, policemen were killed during the week-long violence.

Another Jamaat Assistant Secretary General Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to death on May 9. The party did not call for any shutdown on the day as the BNP-led 18-Party alliance was already enforcing a strike. However, three days later, Jamaat called for a day-long shutdown, protesting against the verdict.

The prosecution has alleged Ghulam Azam, then chief of Jamaat’s East Pakistan wing, had opposed Bangladesh’s struggle for freedom, and led the torture and execution of Bengalis during the 1971 Liberation War.

He has been accused of five war crimes charges including complicity, planning and conspiracy during the war, and allowing the torture and murder of citizens.

Anticipation of Azam’s verdict has revived Ganajagaran Mancha as its supporters once again gathered at Shahbagh on Sunday night.

Spokesman of the movement Imran H Sarkar told bdnews24.com that “This program was pre-scheduled. It is our avowed stand to gather here on the eve of a verdict and stay until the verdict is pronounced.”

Thousands of youths gathered at Shahbagh on February 5 protesting against the life imprisonment of Abdul Kader Molla, terming the verdict as ‘lenient.’ The movement later spread across the country.

Though it called off its non-stop demonstration on February 21, the Mancha has been organising a sit-in demonstration a day before any verdict on war crimes is announced. Ganajagaran Mancha has also started a movement demanding a ban on Jamaat-e-Islami.