Dhaka: One person was killed and over 50
others injured on Monday in the second straight day of nationwide
violent clashes between riot police and Bangladeshi opposition
parties determined to force the government to restore the
caretaker government system to supervise election.
30-year-old Shafiqul Islam, an activist of Bangladesh's
largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) which is a key
ally of the main opposition BNP, succumbed to his wounds,
taking the death toll to five in two days of violence,
officials and reports said.
They said Islam had received bullet wounds in clashes
with police at northeastern Rajshahi district as the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat staged
nationwide anti-government protests.
Witnesses said at least 50 people were injured during the
clashes when police used tear gas and rubber bullets while the
violent protesters used crude bombs and brickbats.
The Awami League-led coalition of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina last year scrapped the neutral caretaker government
system to oversee general election which is due in early 2014.
Demanding the restoration of the caretaker system,
the main opposition and its allies had called for a mass
protest demonstration over the issue yesterday.
Police has banned all political rallies amid fears of
violent clashes between the BNP and the cadres of the ruling
Awami League party.
BNP secretary general Fakhrul Islam Alamgir today claimed
the killings were part of a plan to gag the opposition.
Even as the Rajshahi police confirmed the death of Islam,
they denied the claim of the opposition parties that he was
shot dead in a police shootout.
Metropolitan Police commissioner Mohammad Obaidullah said
"police did not fire any bullets, they only used teargas
shells".
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 00:48