2 Shibir activists nabbed in Dhaka during shutdown

Police have arrested two supporters of Islami Chatra Shibir from Dhaka's Mirpur area on Thursday during the countrywide shutdown called by Jamaat-e-Islami.

Mirpur Police Station OC Md Salahuddin said that the two were arrested around 7.30 am when they were trying to damage vehicles.

Shibir is the student affiliate of Jamaat-e-Islami, which had called for the shutdown to mount pressure for release of its senior leader and war crimes convict Delwar Hossain Sayedee.

Sayedee was given death sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal for crimes against humanity in 1971 in Feb, 2013.

He appealed against the verdict and the Supreme Court's appellate division reduced it to 'imprisonment until death' on Wednesday.

Dhaka was however largely peaceful in the early hours of the strike. No processions were taken out to support it.

Traffic is less than usual for a weekday, but public transports seemed available.

Train and launch services are running on schedule, but long-haul bus services remained suspended.

Unique Travel's General Manager Abdul Haque told bdnews24.com that their last bus from Dhaka left at 10 pm Wednesday.

Soudia Travel's manager Bahar Uddin said that apart from insecurity on the highways, there were not enough passengers to carry.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Traffic Inspector Syed Mahfuzur Rahman said launch service were operating normally.

Dhaka Railway Police station's sub-inspector Md Rafikul Islam said that all trains left Dhaka on time and the number of passengers appeared substantial as it was the last working day of the week.

Jamaat supporters had unleashed large-scale violence in Feb last year when the war crimes ordered death for Sayedee.

In the days after that verdict, 70 people including policemen lost their lives in the violence. At least 200 others were injured and attacks were carried out on Hindus.