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Govt sees ’75 links in attack on Taposh

Brother of fugitive killer Dalim arrested; security of kev personalities, installations beefed up

Staff Correspondent
Law enforcers yesterday detained younger brother of Maj Dalim in connection with Wednesday night's bomb attack on ruling Awami League (AL) lawmaker Fazle Noor Taposh, who is also a prosecution lawyer in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case.
Maj Dalim is one of the convicts in the case, who is currently absconding abroad.
Home Minister Sahara Khatun at an emergency meeting of AL Central Working Committee (ALCWC) yesterday informed a few other ministers about the detention of Dalim's younger brother Kamrul Haque Swapan, according to meeting sources.
The ALCWC held Bangabandhu's killers, and anti-liberation and chauvinistic militant forces responsible for the bomb attack on Taposh and demanded that the government immediately arrests the perpetrators.
"We detained Swapan from his Gulshan-2 residence and are interrogating him," a senior official of Gulshan police told The Daily Star last evening.
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Director Hasan Mahmud Khandker told The Daily Star that Rab also arrested a few persons in connection with the attack on Taposh. He however did not give anymore detail.
The home ministry yesterday decided to beef up security measures for all VIPs including judges of the Appellate Division of Supreme Court and prosecution lawyers of Bangabandhu murder case, and for important national establishments until the verdict in the case is implemented.
Meanwhile. Fazle Noor Taposh filed a case with Motijheel police station yesterday accusing family members, relatives, and associates of Bangabanhdu murder case convicts, of attempting to kill him
"Bangabandhu murder case is being heard at the appellate division, and there is a possibility that the convicts' death sentences will be upheld after 34 years of the assassination, so they attempted to kill me in a bid to obstruct the proceedings of the case and to create an anarchy in the country," Taposh said in the case statement.
Taposh earlier received death threats over text messages on his cellphone just after the appeal hearing of the murder case had started on October 5. The text message read, "We will hold your janaza. Get ready."
“1 received the threat soon after the start of the appeal hearing of Bangabandhu murder case, but I did not take it seriously back then," the AL lawmaker told The Daily Star last night.
Talking to reporters on Dhaka Medical College Hospital premises after visiting the people who had been injured in the attack, the home minister said, ”It was not an isolated incident. The associates of Bangabandhus killers might have carried out the attack. The culprits must be arrested and brought to justice."
Intelligence personnel however suspect that the bomb used in the attack was either remote controlled or had been planted with a timing device.
Although the intelligence personnel and other law enforcers could not identify the attackers and the cause behind it, they confirmed that Taposh was the target.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nur Mohammad said, "It is sure that those who think they are being adversely affected by the victim lawmaker's and his family members' activities, are linked to the attempt."
Asked about the perpetra-tors' identities, the 1G declined to go into details saying. The matter is under investigation, and until we come to a decision, we cannot say anything."
Deputy Commissioner (DO Monirul Islam of the Detective Brach (DB) of Police said law enforces recovered a partially burnt battery, residues of potassium nitrate, small metal balls, and some other particles used in the bomb.
He said observing the extent of the destruction caused by the explosion, and the elements used in the improvised bomb, they suspect that the attackers either planted the bomb equipping it with a timing device or used a remote control.
He said as the spot was over crowded at the moment of explosion, it would be difficult for the attackers to throw the bomb at the car of the lawmaker.
He also said they are sus-pecting associates of Bangabandhu s killers as possible perpetrators, as the now defunct Freedom Party operatives have a firm footing in Motijheel area.
Freedom Party was founded by Col (retd) Syed Farooqur Rahman, a convicted and self-proclaimed killer of Bangabandhu.
The intelligence personnel are also suspecting that since Taposh had played a role in bringing the recent Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny to an end, associates of the mutineers also could have been behind the attack as a part of their revenge attempt on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s family.
An intelligence high official however said, "All these are still suspicions, after an investigation we will be sure who and which organisation were behind the attack."
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) beefed up security measures in the capital by heightening police vigilance and also requested higher authorities to bring in 200 additional personnel from outside the capital to avert further subversive activities.
Sources in DMP said the department strengthened its anti- crime drive after Wednesday's bomb attack, and so far arrested 173 people in the city including eight persons from the scene. The eight are some pedestrians and the security guards of the building that housesTaposh's chamber.
DMP DC Khandaker Mahid Uddin of Motijheel Zone told The Daily Star that the eight had been detained since the morning, but five of them were released later while the other three were still being interrogated. ALCWC MEETING
At the beginning of the ALCWC meeting in the afternoon. Home Minister Sahara Khatun told a few of her minister colleagues about the arrest of Dalim's younger brother, Swapan. But the ministers stopped her from going into any detail in a large meeting like that one, the meeting sources said.
Held at AL President Sheikh Hasina’s political office in Dhanmondi, the meeting decided that the party will organisationally facelhe forces that are behind the attack, and to that end it will strengthen party activities across the country to get the common people involved. Central leaders of AL will start district tours to motivate the people against the propaganda of antigovernment forces, soon after Hasina returns home from Sweden.
Briefing reporters after the meeting. AIT General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said the bomb attack was carried out to stop the execution of the verdict in Bangabandhu murder case. He said the attack on Taposh is nothing but a sequel to the attempts of killing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana, two surviving daughters of Bangabandhu.
Ashraf, also the LGRD and' cooperatives minister, vowed that the verdict of Bangabandhu killing case will be executed, no matter how big a threat comes.
At the meeting, chaired by Acting AL President and Deputy Leader of the Parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, some leaders suggested that the government puts an end to the practice of tender manipulation and extortions by AL activists across the country, to have the common people on the party's side.
AL leaders Mohammad Nasim, Asaduzzaman Noor, and Abdul Matin Khasru, among others blasted Home Minister Sahara Khatun for not taking any action against those who have been manipulating tender bids and carrying out extortions, which have been putting a dent on the government's image.
The AL leaders suggested Sahara to take immediate actions to stop those criminal activities by party activists. They also suggested that ministers who were present at the meeting take a vow to solve the public’s everyday problems, and to keep prices of essentials within the reach of the common people, in a bid to increase the government's acceptability among them.
A few of the leaders including Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, who is also the joint general secretary of AL, pointed out that a vested quarter has been misleading the people of the country by propagating 'false' information about Bangladesh-Myanmar border tension.
The meeting condemned vandalising of vehicles in the name of protests, as there had been widespread reports that activists of AL and its associated bodies damaged several vehicles while bringing out a number of protest marches at different parts in the capital against the bomb attack. Some of the leaders said any party activist found involved in torching of vehicles should be expelled from the party.