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Fear stalks Ctg businessmen

Staff Correspondent, Ctg
Abduction fear is haunting the business community in the port city of Chittagong in the wake of the killing of a top ship-breaker and holding of another magnate to ransom, sources said.
Multimillionaire businessman Rezaur Rahman Zakir, director of Ocean Trade Brokers Ltd. at Agrabad, was shot dead 24 hours after his abduction from the railway station on Monday.
His firm had recently imported three old ships at a cost of about Tk 100 crore for breaking.
Industrialist Jamal Uddin Ahmed, a local leader of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was kidnapped 21 days ago from Chawkbazar. He is yet to be rescued despite a massive police hunt in Fatikchhari and adjacent highlands.
"We now feel shaky to move around the city to run our business amid the law and order slide and the
wave of abductions, murders and other crimes," Chairman of Bangladesh Tea Traders Association (TTAB) Feroz Ahmed said.
"Businessmen are scared to move out of office or residence. Even we hesitate to move with our foreign buyers or partners," he added.
President of Clearing and Forwarding Agents Association M Salim Ullah echoed the same voice. "We feel really very shaky nowadays," he added.
"The families of most businessmen are also worried over abductions and other crimes," he said.
Feroz said: "After reaching office or any other place, the first thing we do is to informing family members that we are safe."
"I myself used to relax sometimes by driving car on the city roads at night, now I don't dare to undertake such trips," he added.
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The killing and kidnap by organised gangs along with a spate of other crimes have sparked massive protests and brought to light lax lawenforcement in the port city that handles much of the country's export and import trading.
President of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) Amir Humayun Mahmud Chowdhury in a recent press statement called for immediate deployment of army to rescue Jamal and improve law and order.
Feroz said the plunge in order would bring businesses to their knees if immediate steps were not taken.
"The government must take urgent measures to bring an end to the fatal abduction frequency and ensure security for business here," he said.
First Vice-president of
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) SM Nurul Huq said: "It will be difficult to turn Chittagong into a commercial capital if such abductions and other crimes continued unabated."
"We want an immediate end to such unnerving troubles." Selim said the government must launch a joint operation involving the army, police and paramilitary forces to arrest the criminals harboured by political godfathers.
The goons must be tried in speedy trial courts, he said.
Police, however, claimed that efforts were on to rescue business magnate Jamal Uddin and unearth the clues to the killing of Zakir.
Earlier, non-Bangalee businessman Taher Ali Fakri and two other magnates Haji Monir and Md Hanif were abducted in the city.