Bangladesh police arrest two top Opposition leaders
The Hindu
The BNP is demanding that Prime Minister Hasina step down in favour of fresh elections under a caretaker government instead of ruling Awami League.
Police in Bangladesh on Friday arrested two top leaders of the main Opposition party BNP, a day before its planned grand rally in the capital to call for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party's Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas were picked by the detective branch personnel from their homes in separate pre-dawn raids in the capital city.
“DB (detective branch) men arrested Mr Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir from his Uttara (area) residence at about 3 am. There are some cases against (pending against) him,” Uttara police station’s officer in charge Zahirul Islam told newsmen.
Without further elaborations, the official said Mr. Alamgir was taken to detective branch custody for subsequent legal procedures as former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s BNP is waging an anti-government campaign.
A BNP spokesman, meanwhile, said the police also arrested the party’s standing committee member Mr. Abbas, who is the former mayor of Dhaka, from his Shahjahanpur home in the capital in a pre-dawn raid.
BNP spokesman Zahiruddin Swapan said the plainclothesmen told Mr. Alamgir was being taken away on “orders of the high command".
The BNP is demanding that Prime Minister Hasina step down in favour of fresh elections under a caretaker government instead of ruling Awami League, fearing the polls to be rigged by her administration.