Bangladesh cities at a standstill due to indefinite curfew

Life in six cities in Bangladesh, including national capital Dhaka has come to a complete standstill in the wake of the interim government imposing an indefinite curfew since 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

Dhaka, Aug.24 : Life in six cities in Bangladesh, including national capital Dhaka has come to a complete standstill in the wake of the interim government imposing an indefinite curfew since 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

Save for a three-hour relaxtion between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Thursday, the curfew continues to remain in force.

Local newspapers and witnesses were quoted as saying that punitive action was taken against many people by the law enforcers for violation of the curfew. Pedestrians, journalists, rickshaw-pullers and CNG autorickshaw drivers were beaten up at different places for violation of the curfew, or not carrying curfew passes.

The six cities looked largely wore a desolate look during the curfew. Hundreds of incoming passengers, and people going to receive them, spent the curfew hours at different airports, railway and bus stations and launch terminals.

The Army, personnel of the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), the Rapid Action Battalion and the police patrolled streets mounting their guns to strictly enforce curfew.

They forced pharmacies, grocers and restaurants at different places of the six cities to shut down. Drug stores, however, were exempted from curfew.

Meanwhile, the military-backed authorities in Bangladesh have arrested two senior academics for reportedly spearheading the disturbances on campuses across the country.

Anwar Hossain, secretary of the Dhaka University Teachers Association, and Harun-Or Rashid, the Dean of the Social Science faculty, were arrested by army-led forces in raids on their homes on the university campus.

The authorities also raided buildings across Dhaka, looking for students who were possibly involved in the three days of rioting. One man has died so far in the protests over ongoing emergency rule and the rise in the cost of living

According to the BBC, censors visited two television stations and they were warned not to criticise the government.

Six months after widespread rioting forced the cancellation of January's general election, Bangladesh remains under a state of emergency.

A series of military raids have seen dozens of senior politicians, many of them former cabinet ministers and household names, arrested and jailed.

Chief of the Army Staff, General Moeen U Ahmed argues that is exactly where they should be.

The Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed-led government has vowed to crackdown on corruption.

Lt Gen Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, a former army chief, has been appointed the head of the reformed Anti-Corruption Commission.

"It is indeed a very big task," Chowdhury says, adding that by necessity, the politicians are the first who are being targetted.

Over 60 national-level politicians have been arrested so far, and Lt Gen Chowdhury insists the net will be cast more widely.

"The only criterion we shall go by is did an individual become rich through unfair means", he says.

Special courts have been set up to hear the cases, and the first convictions have begun rolling in. (ANI + inputs)

ANI