Dhaka, Aug 26: A day after a senior Bangladeshi leader was shot dead in broad daylight, an outlawed terrorist organisation has claimed responsibility for the killing, even as main opposition Awami League has called for a countrywide strike on Thursday to protest the incident. Purbo Banglar Communist Party, an outlawed Leftist body, claimed responsibility, branding Monzrul Imam, a senior leader in the main opposition Awami League, as a "class enemy."
Imam, who was in his mid-seventies, was gunned down while he was on his way to court with another lawyer in a cycle rickshaw in the south western province of Khulna yesterday.
Awami League president Sheikh Hasina squarely blamed Prime Minister Khaleda Zia for the killing, accusing her of "establishing a reign of killing in the country" by releasing several miscreants who were arrested during Hasina's regime.
The AL has already called for a general strike to protest the incident on Thursday and the party would be organising demonstrations and processions throughout the country later today.
Police have arrested nine persons, including two women, in connection with the incident.
Meanwhile, a report in the 'Daily Star' highlighted the growing number of political killings across the country. The paper, quoting a report by a human rights group said 195 persons were killed and 2,675 injured in the first six months of the year in such attacks.
Although most victims were Awami League activists, members of the ruling BNP and its Jamaat also did not escape such a fate, the report said.
Bureau Report