Jamaat sponsored shutdown in Bangladesh evokes mixed response

The 24-hour-long nation-wide shutdown called and sponsored by the Jamaat-e-Islami over a demand to release their leader Delawar Hossain Sayedee, evoked a mixed response on Thursday.

According to the Daily Star, only rickshaws were seen plying at the Satmatha intersection in Bogra town during the shutdown.

The daily said that the shutdown was progressing across the country in a relaxed way.

Appalled by the Supreme Court verdict that sentenced war criminal Sayedee to imprisonment until death, the Jamaat had called two 24-hour hartals for today and Sunday.

In Dhaka, police detained two pickets from Mirpur area when they were trying to bring out a procession on the Chiriakhana road at Rainkhola in favour of the shutdown.

Vehicles except private cars are plying the city streets as the normal days.

Besides, the activists of Jamaat and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, staged demonstrations at different districts during the shutdown.

In Narayanganj, Shibir men vandalised seven vehicles. Police said Shibir activists brought out a stick procession from the Golachipa area of the town in support of the shutdown.

In Rajshahi, the police had to fire blank shots to disperse a mob attempting to bring out a procession in the Dingaduba area. However, no one was hurt.

In Bogra, Jamaat and Shibir men brought out a procession in Kaloni and Khandar areas of the town this morning and torched tyres on the roads.

A truck fell into a road side ditch as its driver lost control over the steering while trying to escape an attack by hartal supporters on Bogra-Naogaon highway in Erulia area. The driver, however, remained unhurt.

Besides, police in several drives arrested eight Jamaat-Shibir men suspecting that they might carry out subversive activities during today's shutdown.

In Kurigram, police arrested five Jamaat-Shibir men last night.