The police fired several hundred shots to contain a wave of violence on Dhaka-Chittagong highway on Wednesday as activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir went on the rampage at Sitakunda vandalising vehicles and attacking houses of ruling party activists.
The news of the killing of a local leader of Jamaat allegedly by the police fuelled the violence as Jamaat-Shibir men fought pitched battles with law enforcers at Pontichila under Sitakunda uapazila forcing the police at one point to retreat leaving the opposition activists to continue blocking traffic.
Traffic on the highway remained suspended till 9:00pm. Reinforcements, including Rapid Action Battalion and para-military Border Guard Bangladesh, were dispatched to the area to contain the rampaging crowds of protesters.
The bullet-hit body of Aminul Islam, general secretary of Barabkunda union unit of Jamaat was found on the roadside at Ponthichila around 1:30pm. Inspector (investigation) of Sitakunda police station Md Elias said that police could not identify the body with its face mutilated.
Jamaat claimed that detectives had picked up Aminul from a bus at Comilla on his way home on November 17.
Zakir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Bara Aulia highway police station, said that Jamaat men went on the rampage after the body was recovered. The Jamaat-Shibir men had torched three vehicles and vandalised several others on the highway, halting the traffic.
Rapid Action Battalion officials said Shibir activists had set fire to the houses of four Awami League leaders, including Barabkunda union parishad chairman M Sadakat Ullah.
The violence triggered tailback on the highway causing immense sufferings to the long-route passengers.
In a meeting with transport leaders on Tuesday, deputy commissioner of Chittagong Abdul Mannan assured them that steps were being taken to ensure safety of the transports operating on the highway. The transport operators in Chittagong postponed a two-day strike it had called for Wednesday and Thursday in protest at frequent attacks on vehicles by protesters on the highway.
Jamaat-Shibir men struck terror on the highway, considered as the lifeline of the country’s economy, since Aminul had gone missing.
Around 25,000 vehicles, mostly buses and trucks, operate on the highway every day, Sitakunda, highway traffic police said.
-With New Age input
