Bangladesh's main opposition party accuses government of arresting over 2,000 leaders, activists

By Faisal Mahmud

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Bangladesh's main opposition party on Wednesday claimed that over 2,000 of its leaders and activists have been arrested in the past few days for what they described as "false cases" of “vandalism and arson” during violent student protests advocating for government job quota reforms.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made these assertions during a press briefing at the party's headquarters in the capital Dhaka.

Alamgir said more than 2,000 opposition members have been detained nationwide in connection with the protests, demanding their immediate release.

Earlier Wednesday, authorities announced that at least 1,380 people have been arrested in the last three days across multiple police stations under Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) jurisdiction, with 154 cases filed.

Furthermore, the DMP reported a $5 million loss due to the violence linked to the quota reform protests.

"Miscreants set fire to 69 DMP establishments, including traffic police boxes, and attempted arson attacks on several police stations and outposts," DMP Joint Commissioner Biplab Kumar Sarker said at a press briefing earlier in the day.

Alamgir, meanwhile, acknowledged the difficulties in obtaining accurate information about the detainees and casualties due to the government's shutdown of communication systems.

He noted their ongoing inability to resume political activities, citing the closure of their central office in Nayapaltan by law enforcement following a raid.

Concerning casualties, he accused the government of withholding information about the number of deaths and injuries to “mislead” the public.

He criticized the government for focusing exclusively on the protests' attacks and vandalism while ignoring casualties, which he claimed was an attempt to shift blame to the BNP.

He dismissed the government's accusations linking the BNP to subversive activities as groundless.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, however, told a briefing on Wednesday that the alliance of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, another religiopolitical opposition party, engages in "destructive activities across the country to undermine its economy," following their failure to disrupt the last national election.

She made these remarks while speaking with editors and heads of news from various media organizations at a meeting hosted by the Editors' Guild at her office.

Hasina claimed that the BNP-Jamaat coalition staged arson attacks and killings before and after the 2013-14 election, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries.