BNP-Jamaat’s rowdy elements attacked and set fire to a train, torched a passenger bus and two covered vans on Wednesday night and on Thursday to create panic among the common people.
They torched the train in Sylhet, the bus at the capital’s Bijoynagar and the two covered vans in Gazipur district.
Around 700 vehicles and establishments either were torched or rampaged during the series of blockades and hartals enforced by BNP and Jamaat since October 28.
Trains, educational institutions and buses are their main targets.
At least 295 vehicles, four trains and 86 establishments, including two primary schools were torched while around 280 vehicles and 40 other establishments were ransacked across the country by the BNP-Jamaat activists.
It seems, the BNP and Jamaat have opted to carry on atrocities and subversive activities as the main weapons to oust the present Awami League government and destabilize the country
People’s plights mount everyday and they are smarting from desperate daily nightmare due to anarchy during hartal and blockade programmes.
Students, their guardians, transport owners and even the mass people now fear of being victims by the arsonists or anarchists.
In the circumstances, the BNP and Jamaat on Thursday called another 48-hour blockade countrywide for the seventh phase.
They have been trying to oust the government and thwart the 12th Jatiya Sangsad election and also demanding a caretaker government that is unconstitutional and rejected by the Supreme Court.
700 vehicles, establishments torched, damaged
25 subversive acts in railway 2 Schools torched
295 vehicles torched, 280 damaged
86 establishments torched, 40 vandalised
Police constable among 6 people killed
The 12th JS polls are scheduled to be held on January 7, 2024 and most of the political parties have remained busy with their own process to join the polls.
In the latest development, since Wednesday night to Thursday evening, the BNP-Jamaat cadres torched another train in Sylhet and two other vehicles in the capital and in Gazipur during their sixth phase of blockade programme.
Sources in Sylhet said an intercity train, Upaban Express of Bangladesh Railway was set on fire on Wednesday night when it was standing at Sylhet station around 9:30pm.
Although no casualty was reported, several compartments were damaged in the fire.
Besides, a passenger bus of ‘Ajmeri Paribahan’ was torched at Nightingale intersection near BNP office in the capital on Thursday noon while two covered vans on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Gazipur.
Police in Gazipur said eight to 10 miscreants riding in a private car and a motorbike intercepted the covered vans and set those on fire around 6:00am in the morning by pouring petrol.
Meanwhile, the Police Headquarters (PHQ) on Thursday said that during the series of hartal and blockade programmes enforced by the BNP and Jammat since October 29 to November 22, miscreants torched at least 376 vehicles and establishments while damaged 310 vehicles and establishments.
Assistant Inspector General (AIG-Media) of Police, Md Majur Rahman of the PHQ said police arrested at least 45 people in connection with the arson incidents and vandalism.
Besides, at least six people, including a police constable, were killed during the period, he said.
In view of disconnecting the railway network, miscreants have targeted the railway sector.
AIG Majur Rahman also said during the period from October 31 to November 22, at least 24 subversive acts were carried out in the railway sector during the period.
Apart from Sylhet, three trains were torched in separate incidents at Kamalapur Railway Station, Tangail and Jamalpur while several trains derailed due to subversive acts.
Railway tracks were also set on fire at nine places. Of them, three incidents took place in Gazipur, two in Noakhali, one in Kishorganj, one in Sylhet, one in Pabna and one in Dinajpur.
Besides, stones were pelted at six places--including one in Dhaka, two in Mymensingh, one in Gazipur, one in Netrakona and one in Naogaon.
Moreover, the miscreants attempted to cut railway tracks in Sylhet, Mymensingh and Kishorganj while railway sleepers were also removed and bottles full of petrol were also thrown in Gaibandha, Pabna and different other places.
Besides, the miscreants torched a government primary school in Gazipur on November 19 while another school was burnt in Manikganj.
The PHQ officials said the miscreants torched and vandalized many offices of the ruling Awami League in different districts where various other establishments were also torched and ransacked.
Officials in the police and intelligence agencies said miscreants could have carried out much and more atrocities unless the law-enforcers and intelligence agencies remained sitting idle.
Earlier, officials of the Fire Service and Civil Defence said they received reports of 197 arson attacks on vehicles, commuter train compartments and establishments in 24 days spanning October 28 to November 20.