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Officials of Gulshan Police Station refused to speak when contacted about the incident
Published : 29 Aug 2024, 02:00 AM
The ‘Deepto Shopoth’ sculpture built in memory of police officers killed in the terrorist attack at Gulshan’s Holey Artisan Bakery has been demolished and replaced with a poster of banned militant outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The law-enforcing agency did not issue a statement clarifying when the incident occurred or who did it.
When bdnews24.com contacted Gulshan Police Station to know more about the incident, no official was willing to speak about it.
Badhan Munshi, a Facebook user, wrote: "Banned 'militant organisation' Hizb ut-Tahrir has destroyed the monument built in memory of the police officers killed in Gulshan’s Holey Artisan attack and put up their posters. "
On Tuesday night, the broken pieces of the vandalised sculpture were seen scattered on the ground. The poster of Hizb ut-Tahrir was also there.
On Jul 1, 2016, a group of young Islamist militants carried out a terrorist attack on Gulshan’s Holey Artisan Bakery, an eatery popular among foreigners.
Five young attackers, armed with pistols, sub-machine guns, sharp weapons, and grenades, stormed the cafe around 8:45pm and started an overnight siege.
The militants slaughtered and shot dead 20 diners, including nine Italians, seven Japanese, a US citizen and an Indian.
Two police officers were killed in grenade blasts as they tried to get to the assailants inside the cafe. Two employees of the eatery also died in the attack.
In 2018, the then Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner inaugurated a sculpture named 'Deepto Shopoth' in front of the old Gulshan police station in memory of the slain police officers.
Ever since the fall of the Awami League government on Aug 5, several sculptures have been smashed all over the country. The majority of the statues destroyed were those of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the ones built in memory of the Liberation War.
The outlawed Hizb ut-Tahrir has been holding public rallies since.
After Jumma prayers on Aug 10, the leaders of the banned organisation marched from the capital’s Baitul Mukarram and held a rally in front of the National Press Club.
On Oct 22, 2009, the Awami League government banned Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The then government said: "The activities of this organisation are a threat to public safety in the country.”
During the BNP-Jamaat coalition government, Hizb ut-Tahrir came into the limelight by talking about establishing an Islamic caliphate in Bangladesh. The group has been banned in several Muslim-majority countries around the world.
