Five top leaders of Bangladesh's main opposition BNP have been arrested, hours after Khaleda Zia-led Bangladesh Nationalist Party announced a 72-hour nationwide strike from tomorrow demanding a neutral caretaker government to oversee the next general elections.
Three members of BNP's highest policymaking standing committee - Moudud Ahmed, MK Anwar and Rafiqul Islam Mia - were arrested by plainclothesmen here overnight.
They were arrested while returning to home after attending the anniversary celebration of a newspaper here. Mintoo and Biswas were whisked away from outside Zia's Gulshan residence at around 1 am (local time), reports said.
Later, police detained Zia's adviser and business tycoon Abdul Awal Mintu and her special assistant Shimul Biswas.
Witnesses said police were deployed on the streets and around Zia's office and residence. A police officer described the intensified vigilance as "steps for her own security".
BNP alleged that police also carried out midnight raids at the houses of several other influential party leaders who went underground to evade arrests.
In protest against the arrests, BNP today extended the proposed shutdown by another 12 hours saying the strike would now continue for 84 hours until Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, angry opposition activists took to the streets, setting several vehicles on fire and exploding bombs.
Police is yet to say on what charges the BNP leaders were detained or arrested but Information Minister Hassanul Haq Inu told newsmen last night the government was forced to arrest them under a "extraordinary situation".
"We were forced to take the tougher stand in an extra- ordinary situation to protect the nation from acts of anarchy ... The people are getting killed," he said.
Inu did not elaborate on the anarchy, but according to reports the opposition leaders in a close door meeting with Zia last night planned to go ahead with a nationwide strike on November 10, 11 and 12 to mount pressure on government.
This will be the third prolonged strike in two weeks.
In a hurriedly called press conference here, BNP's joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi blasted the government for the "crackdown" and termed the arrests as manifestation of the government aggression on opposition.
"But tougher action will await the government unless our leaders are freed immediately," he said.
Premier Sheikh Hasina and her arch-rival Zia are the most powerful leaders in Bangladesh and they have alternated as prime minister since 1991.
Hasina last month proposed an all-party government for election oversight, but Zia rejected the proposal and floated a formula for creating a neutral caretaker regime.
