Four buses torched in Dhaka ahead of BNP’s 48-hour hartal, 1 held

Locals catch and hand over to police a suspect in Taltala

At least four buses were set on fire in Dhaka on the eve of BNP’s 48-hour nationwide hartal, or shutdown, called in protest against the announcement of the national election schedule.

A Bihanga Paribahan bus was torched in the Taltala area of Agargaon around 7:45pm on Saturday.

Locals doused the blaze before the firefighters arrived, said Ershad Hossain, an official at the control room of the Fire Service and Civil Defence.

The locals also caught, beat up and handed to police a young man for his suspected involvement in the arson attack.

Faruqul Alam, chief of Kafrul Police Station, said another man escaped the scene. He was allegedly accompanying the detainee, identified with a single name as Siam.

Fire service spokesperson Talha Bin Jashim said that a Komol Paribahan bus was set on fire next to the Gulistan Toll Plaza around 8:30pm.

Two units from the Siddik Bazar Fire Station doused the fire.

Around midnight, arsonists torched a Moumita Paribahan bus in Dhanmondi and a Basumati Paribahan bus in the Kalshi area of Mirpur, Jashim said.

Firefighters from Palashi and Pallabi stations doused the flames.

The BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami called the hartal from 6am on Sunday in protest against the announcement of the schedule of national polls by the Election Commission, with the voting slated for Jan 7.