Jamaat calls 2-day hartal demanding Kamaruzzaman’s release

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami on Monday called a two-day countrywide general strike on Tuesday and Wednesday protesting at what it said the government’s conspiracy of killing the party leader and death row convict Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and demanding his release. On the eve of the hartal, an activist of Jamaat’s student wing Islami Chattra Shibir was killed and another activist was shot as the Shibiur men locked in a clash with police when police tried to resist them from taking out a demonstration protesting at Kamaruzzaman’s sentence and vandalizing vehicles on Krishnarampur Road under Sadar upazila in Noakhali. The hartal was called at the sentence of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court dismissing Kamaruzzaman’s appeal seeking review of its decision upholding his death sentence in a war crimes case Monday morning, clearing the way for carrying out the death warrant for his execution. The hartal was announced by its acting amir Makbul Ahmad through a press statement signed by one M Alam of its central publicity department.

The statement said that ambulance, vehicles carrying bodies, and vehicles of hospitals and fire service will remain out of the purview of the hartal. ‘The countrymen expected he (Kamaruzzaman) would get justice through the review petition. [But] today’s Court decision disappointed countrymen,’ the statement said. New Age correspondent in Noakhali reportrf shibir activist Omar Faruk, 22, of village Kadirhanif under Noakhali Sadar upazila was killed and another activist Rakib, 20, of Maijdee in the district town was injured when police opened fire to resist the Shibir men’s demonstration and attempt at vandalizing vehicles on Krishnarampur Road at around 11:30am. Sudharam Model Police station officer-in-charge Anowar Hossain claimed that police opened fire as the Shibir men tried to open fire at police. He said that police also arrested one more Shibir activist Rasel, 20, of village Ekabbarpur under Begumgonj upazila of the district from the spot while the others managed to flee. In Narayanganj, Jamaat and Shibir men brought out a procession at Don Chamber area of the city in support of the hartal in the afternoon and set fire to a passenger bus, as police arrested a Shibir activist, Yusuf Hossain, from the spot. Following the SC verdict on Kamaruzzaman’s appeal, Jamaat and Shibir men brought out a procession at Ranirbandar of Chirirbandar in Dinajpur and vandalized a car on Dinajpur-Rangpur highway. Police arrested a Shibir man, Md Anisur Rahman, 23, from the spot. The Jamaat-Shibir men also demonstrated in Khulna and Bogra, New Age correspondents in the districts said. The Jamaat and Shibir men also demonstrated in Mirpur, Moghbazar, Dainik Bangla intersection, Dhanmondi, Jurain and Gendaria, a Jamaat press release said. Meanwhile, Bangladesh Technical Education Board examination controller Rafiqul Islam Mir said that the examination scheduled for Tuesday under the board would take place on scheduled time.

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