Former Jamaat MPs Mujibur and Parwar arrested with bombs in Dhaka

Thirteen Jamaat-e-Islami activists, including former MPs Mia Ghulam Parwar and Mujibur Rahman, have been arrested in Dhaka with handmade bombs, police say.

Pallabi police raided the residence of Jamaat leader Harun-or-Rashid on Monday noon and made the arrests.

“They were holding a secret meeting there,” Sub-Inspector (SI) Zillur Rahman told bdnews24.com.

He said 20 homemade bombs were also found at the house.

Parwar, a former MP from Khulna, is an assistant secretary general of Jamaat and Rahman, a former Rajshahi MP, is an acting Nayeb-e-Ameer of the party.

Both are accused in a several sabotage cases. They are being tried in a case over clashes with police on Nov 5, 2012 at Motijheel.

Jamaat opposed Bangladesh’s independence and “substantially contributed” to forming auxiliary forces during the Liberation War to help the Pakistani army, the war crimes tribunal has observed.

On Aug 1, 2013, the High Court scrapped its registration with the Election Commission.

Most of the war crimes convicts, and those standing trial, are from the party.

Media reports suggest Parwar and Rahman, along with several others, had been running the party since most of its top leaders were convicted of war crimes.

The arrestees have been taken to detective police headquarters.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Commissioner (West) Md Sazzadur Rahman declined to disclose identities of the others.

He said they would be implicated in two cases – one for sabotage and another under the Explosives Act.

Pallabi Police Station OC Dadan Fakir said the explosives seized from during the raid were “very powerful”.

“They were planning large-scale act of sabotage,” he said.