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Politics cared least for the people

Conclude citizens after 3 days of sufferings

Shariful Islam, Kailash Sarkar and Wasim Bin Habib
It was a day incomparable with any other. An ever-bustling Dhaka looked deserted, with almost no passenger buses and other motor vehicles seen on most city thoroughfares yesterday.
Most educational institutions, private offices, shopping malls and markets in the city were seen shut without any prior notice.
Long-distance bus and launch services to and from the capital also remained
snapped for a third day yesterday, causing immense sufferings to thousands. A precious few trucks entered the city carrying daily essentials, resulting in a price spiral of some items.
Although tension ran high centring on the BNP rally, a peaceful atmosphere prevailed throughout the day except for a few sporadic incidents of attacks on opposition men by police and ruling Awami League supporters.
Several people were injured when ruling party men, equipped with homemade
sharp weapons, hockey sticks and bamboos, swooped on rally-goers at different points, sending waves of panic across the city, witnesses said.
BNP leader Ruhul Kuddus Talukdar Dulu, his wife and some other party activists were hurt when police intercepted their procession at Moghbazar around 11:00am.
"It's as if a curfew has been imposed. We're extremely worried about our security because of the face-off between the BNP and the Awami League," said Ahmedul Gazi of Rajabazar.
"No one in the government and in the opposition thinks about us. It's the public who bear the burnt of their politics," hesaid.
Security was very tight. Around 20,000 law enforcers, including3,000 Rab and 3,000 border force members, were deployed across the capital. Ten mobile courts patrolled the city, according to officials concerned.
In an apparent demonstration of their might, leaders and activists of the ruling AL and its associate organisations also took position at different places in the city.
Worried, many city dwellers chose not to come out of their homes for fear of chaos.
Office-goers suffered the most as they had to travel by rickshaws, rickshaw vans and CNG-run auto-rickshaws — and that too at unusually high fares. Scores of people who work in the city but live outside spent Sunday night at their relatives' in the capital, apprehending that they might otherwise fail to come to
office.
“Two of my colleagues who live in Gazipur stayed at my house on Sunday night to make sure that they didn't miss work," said Mahmuda Khanam, a Sonali Bank employee who lives at Bank Colony at Motijheel.
The Daily Star correspondents visited the city's Mirpur, Pallabi, Shyamoli, Farmgate, Dhanmondi, Kalabagan, New Market, Palashi, Paltan, Motijheel, Moghbazar, Moha-khali and Uttara and found such a picture of the day.
Fearing violence, many guardians did not send their children to schools while those who took the trouble to go to the schools had to return home without attending classes.
"I've come to school, as there was no announcement that there would be no classes today [yesterday],” said Takrim, a class VII student of Government Laboratory High School. A few others also went to school but only to return home, he added.
The few shops that opened had hardly any customer.
CLASHES
Law enforcers and activists of the AL and its front bodies attacked the opposition men, triggering sporadic clashes and chase and counter chase at Matsya Bhaban, Bata Signal crossing on Elephant Road, Science Laboratory intersection, Moghbazar, Karwan Bazar, Kalyanpur, Nababganj, Hazaribagh, and Gulistan when the opposition supporters were on their way to the rally.
Activists of Jubo Dal, a proBNPyouth body, vandalised a
number of light posts at Bata Signal and hurled brick chips at the law enforcers during a clash that broke out after police barred a BNP procession from going ahead, witnesses said.
Three cocktails were exploded at the time, they added.
Bangladesh Chhatra League and Jubo League, the pro-AL student and youth fronts, rushed to the spot and dispersed the Jubo Dal activists.
Near Matsya Bhaban, the BCL stopped a procession of around 150 Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal activists around 12:00pm. Law enforcers were within yards when the BCL men intercepted the procession.
TWo gunshots were heard during the chaos.
Police also dispersed a rally of Natore district BNP at Karwan Bazar.
At Nababaganj, two Jubo Dal activists were injured as AL supporters swooped on them with sticks on their way totherallyat2:00pm.
Meanwhile, several thousand AL leaders and activists took to different city streets, including that before the party's central office on Bangabandhu Avenue, from early morning yesterday "to resist any possible chaos" by BNPactivists.
The ruling party men chased at least five processions of the opposition party passing through the roads adjacent to BangabandhuAvenue.
They also hurled bricks at the opposition men and dispersed their processions on both sides of the avenue,
creating panic in the area. A number of BNP men were inj ured in the incident.
The AL men also caught an alleged Islami Chhatra Shibir man, Mohammad Belial, with a big sharp knife near Bangabandhu Avenue. After beating him indiscriminately, they handed him over to the police around 4:00pm.
AL leaders Jahangir Kabir Nanak, BM Mozammel Haque, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, MA Aziz, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Qamrul Islam, Mirza Azam and Ashim Kumar Ukil were present before the party office.
TUhin Shubhra Adhikary and Shaheen Mollah also contributed to the story.