Bangladesh police have detained at least 300 people in a countrywide crackdown on Islamist militants and activists for alleged involvement in recent campus violence that killed several students and injured dozens.

Police said on Friday that they held around 200 suspects after a swoop on Rajshahi University in the country’s north, where a student was killed on Monday.

The victim was shot and stabbed fatally by members of Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami party, police said.

Clashes triggered by the killing led to a rampage in university dormitories and administrative offices which left dozens of students injured and forced authorities to suspend classes and examinations.

A few days earlier a student was killed at Dhaka University during an overnight clash between rival factions of a pro-government student group.

Another student was shot dead at Chittagong University on Thursday.

Police said they detained over 100s Shibir members at Dhaka and Chittagong for suspected involvement in the violence.
Chittagong
Chittagong police on Friday rounded up about 90 Shibir activists along with metropolitan Jamaat nayeb-e-amir Md Ahsanullah from a demonstration brought out to cliam the body of slain student AAM Mahiuddin.

Some unidentified attackers hacked Mahiuddin, a Chittagong University political science student, to death at the Sholoshahar rail station on Thursday evening.

Both Bangladesh Chhatra League and Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders claimed Mahiuddin to be their worker.

However, the family members of the victim refuted Shibir’s claim saying Mahiuddin had no connections with Jamaat-Shibir politics.

Witnesses said at around 11.30 am on Friday, more than 500 Shibir activists, led by former MP and Jamaat leader Shahjahan Chowdhury, brought out a demonstration parading towards the Chittagong Medical College Hospital morgue to claim the body of Mahiuddin.

As the hospital authorities refused to comply with their demand, Shibir held an impromptu gathering in front of the morgue.

A chase and counter chase ensued between police and Shibir actvists as the demonstrators arrived at Jamal Khan intersection.

Chittagong metropolitan police additional commissioner Jalil Mondol told reporters that they arrested around 90 protestors for attacking the police personnel and creating disorder at the hospital.

At least 10 policemen including assistant police commissioner Jahangir Alam and Kotwoali thana police chief Mahiuddin Mahmud were injured in the clash, Mondol claimed.

He said, “They (Shibir activists) made chaos at the hospital demanding that the dead student was their worker. Later they brought out demonstration ignoring police order.”

Traffic on both the Kazir Dauri and Zamal Khan areas was brought to a standstill during the clash. The communication, however, resumed after about an hour and a half.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Chhatra league CU unit also took to the streets claiming the body to be theirs.

Family declines Shibir claim

Md Fazlul Qader, father of the deceased, told bdnews24.com that his family is loyal to Awami League. None of his family members are involved in Jamaat-Shibir politics.

“My son had no connection with Shibir. We are Awami League supporters. I want nobody to gain political advantage out of my son’s dead body.”

Fazlul said he worked as a store keeper of Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation.

“I was dismissed from my job without any allegation in 2002 during the rule of BNP-led four-party alliance. I was reinstated by a High Court order six months ago.”

Provost Hossain Kabir of Alaol hall, to which Mahiuddin belonged, told bdnews24.com that Mahiuddin was an innocent boy and was never seen to be involved in Shibir politics.

Case Filed, Halls raided

Fazlul Qader filed a case Thursday night with the railway (GRP) police against a group of 6-7 unidentified assailants.

Meanwhile, police raided the CU halls but could not arrest anyone or recover any arms, said police officials
Rajshahi ,
Rajshahi city Jamaat Ameer Ataur Rahman and 10 other Shibir men were taken on a five-day remand yesterday in connection with three cases filed for February 9 RU violence.

The court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate granted the five-day remand while the police sought for 10 days.

Ataur Rahman has been shown remanded in Faruk Hossain killing case. BCL activist and Rajshahi University student Faruk was hacked to death during the RU rampage.

Police charged the Jamaat leader with ordering and provoking Shibir cadres to go berserk and perpetrate the murder.

With the 11, the number of arrestees in Rajshahi following the RU incident has reached 46.

Meanwhile, two injured BCL workers, Rahedul Islam Rahi and Ruhul Amin, earlier admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, lodged two more cases against some 90 Shibir leaders and activists with Motihar Police Station yesterday.

Rahi accused 34 Shibir men, including RU Shibir president Shamsul Alam Golap and general secretary Mobarak Hossain, and 25 other unknown persons. Ruhul accused 31 Shibir men.

The complainants said the accused persons had attacked them during the overnight clash between BCL and Shibir on RU campus.

Including these two cases, a total of five cases have been filed against 700 persons for their alleged involvement in the RU violence.

An unprecedented number of police and Rab members were deployed at different points of the city, especially the Shibir strongholds and mosques, to prevent Shibir from staging protest programmes.

Shibir men have fled the city locking up their messes at Meherchandi, Budpara, Binodpur and several other places. Police raided some of the dens last night.

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Bangladesh said it is on target to buy military equipment including 80 armored vehicles and two helicopters as part of its 10-year defense transformation plan.

Planning Minister retired Air Vice Marshal A.K. Khandker made the announcement to parliament in Dhaka, saying orders will be placed for some equipment in the current fiscal year.

The shopping list includes seven tanks and one armored recovery vehicle for the army and maritime patrol craft.

The helicopters and 80 armored vehicles, as well as five armored recovery vehicles and five armored ambulances are destined for Bangladeshi troops on U.N. peacekeeping missions,

“An international tender has already been floated to purchase choppers and aircraft to strengthen maritime patrol and also to turn the navy into a three-dimensional force,” Khandker said.

However, The Hindu report gave no details of costs or time frames.

The country will also beef up its manufacturing of bullets and other small-caliber munitions.

“The government has approved in principle and allocated necessary funds to double the capacity of Bangladesh Ordnance Factory to produce ammunition for small arms,” Khandker said in reply to a written question by the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

He said that construction of five patrol craft at Khulna shipyard was under way. The government is considering building or purchasing two larger patrol craft, a hydro graphic survey vessel and one oil tanker at a national or a foreign shipyard.

The government will also be looking to buy one or two old frigates from other countries. The purchases of an offshore patrol vessel from the British navy and a large patrol craft are progressing, he added.

The army has various foreign-made APCs, including around 1,080 Russian BTR-80 and BTR-70 — of which more than 100 are used on U.N. missions — 60 Egyptian-made Fahd 28, and several Turkish and Romanian 6X6 RN-94 APCs for ambulance use.

Last February the newly elected government announced the ambitious procurement plan, including anti-tank and anti-ship missile systems, aircraft for maritime patrol, frigates, tanks and helicopters. A parliamentary committee agreed in principal the 10-year plan in June.

The ship BNS Osman is going to be equipped with anti-aircraft and anti-ship missile from China, analysts said. The BNS Bangabandhu is the most modern ship of the Bangladeshi navy and will be similarly equipped.

The BNS Bangabandhu was built in 1999 by Daewoo of South Korea for $100 million as a multi-purpose anti-air, anti-surface, anti-submarine frigate derived from the fleet of Ulsan class ships that are in service with the South Korean navy. It was fitted with a Thales command-and-control suite comprising a TACTICOS combat system, DA-08 surveillance radar, a Variant surface surveillance radar, a Mirador electro-optical tracking and fire control system and a LIROD Mk2 fire control radar.

The ship was decommissioned and put in reserve in 2002 because of essential warranty work. It was recommissioned in July 2007 for active service as BNS Khalid Bin Walid. It was renamed in 2009 as BNS Bangabandhu.

The navy is in the process of replacing its three former British navy frigates BNS Abu Bakar, BNS Ali Haider and BNS Umar Farooq with modern frigates in next couple of years. It hopes to be operating submarines by 2019.

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To improve the security ,VBangladesh navy and US Navy going to arrage a joint tranning secession.
The United States’ Navy Ship SAFEGUARD (T-ARS 50), the lead ship of the SAFEGUARD class and the Navy’s only forward-deployed rescue and salvage vessel, will conduct a port call in Chittagong on Feb. 13 to 18.

“During the port call, the crew will train together with Bangladesh Navy sailors on advanced diving and salvage techniques,” a U.S. embassy press statement said in the capital, Dhaka on Thursday.

The USNS Safeguard last visited Bangladesh in November 2008.

This visit is the latest in a series of exercises with the Bangladesh Navy Special Warfare and Diving Salvage Center (BN SWADS) at the BNS Issa Khan Naval Base in Chittagong, the statement added.

“This port call demonstrates United States government’s commitment to Bangladesh and to regional security by promoting military-to-military relationships throughout Asia and the Pacific,” the statement noted.

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